


Fear

by PuckPip24601



Series: Valeyard [2]
Category: Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Dark! Doctor, Dark!Thirteen, Valeyard!Thirteen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:34:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27194482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuckPip24601/pseuds/PuckPip24601
Summary: “I am not the Doctor. I finally came up with that name. Would you like to hear it?” She leaned in close, uncaring of whether he did want to or not and her lips peeled back in a wide grin, “I quite like Valeyard.”He paled. Not just from the blood loss but from the realisation of what exactly he’d done to the Doctor hitting him like a ton of bricks. He’d admitted before that the Valeyard scared him. A Doctor without the morals and now he’d just released that into the universe. He could almost laugh at the reality in which he found himself in. The Valeyard had always terrified him. The prospect of facing down the Doctor without any of the compassion that they always had to slow them down. Every twisted and dark thought, every horrifying impulse the Doctor’d ever felt, all wrapped up in one little 5ft 7 blonde and with none of the moral compass that normally guided the Doctor’s every move.
Relationships: The Master (Dhawan) & Yasmin Khan & Ryan Sinclair & Graham O'Brien, Thirteenth Doctor & The Master (Dhawan), Valeyard & The Master (Dhawan)
Series: Valeyard [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861426
Comments: 22
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

It wasn’t until the Master got back into his TARDIS that he finally had a moment to think about everything that had happened. He had his back pressed up against his doors, hearts racing from both fear and exertion and he was struggling to sort through the conflicting emotions at play within him. He was thrilled, how could he not be, a plan of his that involved the Doctor had finally come into fruition. And that was while surrounded on all sides by all the different versions of the Doctor and all her little friends. He’d won. Decisively. Of course, that didn’t mean much in the face of his victory leading the way for the Doctor embracing her dark side. He’d wanted that for the longest time. He’d wanted the two of them to be friends, to team up when overthrowing the universe. The same way the Doctor had wanted him to turn good and he’d tried. Really, he had. But it had backfired on him in the most spectacular way and so the Master was resolute that the Doctor needed to try things his way if it was ever going to happen. Now it was happening, he’d never factored in the possibility that they wouldn’t do it together.

‘ _Why would I want to work with a coward like you?’_ the amusement she’d garnered at the mere prospect of working alongside him had stung.

He still wasn’t 100% sure if this was the Doctor or if she was, like she’d insisted, someone else entirely. For all he’d held the information of her true origins over her head, he didn’t know everything. Most of the information was lost. Maybe there was an ancient being living inside the Doctor’s head. Stranger things had happened in this universe. The Doctor had always had a darker edge to her, no matter how much she’d tried to protest it. Were those moments all the Doctor? Or could they have been this new version, this other being, shining through.

Just as he’d started to get caught up in the questions swirling about in his mind, he felt a jarring shudder as his ship was thrown suddenly off kilter. The force coming from outside the ship. It took him a few long seconds to realise that it was the force of Gallifrey as it was ripped apart by the death particle. He froze, finding it strange that he’d find grief in this considering almost all the death on its surface had come from him anyway. He probably had no right to grieve anything. But it was where he’d been born. The red grass fields where he’d played. It had been the starting place of he and the Doctor’s entwining history together. It was where he’d hoped to end it. Standing in front of her, nose level with her finger on the trigger of the detonator, glee in his hearts at this being how they went out. It had to be her choice. Now it had been, but it didn’t feel right. Wasn’t the same without her hesitating anger, the frustrated tears just barely starting to gather. Amused contempt wasn’t a look normally suited to the Doctor.

Her blasé destruction of their planet only gave credence to the ‘other being’ being the one in control of the Doctor’s body. He could think of no universe, no reason ever, that the Doctor would so callously press the button like that. She couldn’t even do it when he’d dragged her down as low as she could go. So, to do it now, just to spite him and get a rise out of him, seemed unimaginably cold for a being such as the Doctor.

And if they weren’t the Doctor, it begged the question, who were they?

The Master stepped towards his console, swallowing down the lump in his throat and reached for the monitor to take a look outside using the external scanners. His ship was still in the same place, protected by its shielding. The planet was in pieces. Chunks of rock and dust free floating in the space around him. He felt strangely empty over the fact that his home was gone. The grief was there, simmering away beneath the surface, but he couldn’t _feel_ it. It would hit some time later when the shock wore off, he imagined.

The rage seeped through first. The glimmering hints of resentment over this being a victory taken from him. He wouldn’t have wanted his planet destroyed it if wasn’t proving his point. The Time Lords had been the problem, not the planet itself. His hands clenched around the metal at the edge of his console and he took in a few heavy breaths in through his nose, the noise coming out shaky as his jaw clenched. He pushed the monitor out of the way and rounded the console to begin the take-off procedure. He needed to put together a plan, pick up his contingency of CyberMaster’s that he’d hidden off world just in case of a situation exactly like this. If he was going to face down the Doctor, or whoever this was, he’d need an army, and he’d need to be smart about it.

He flew to Pazithi Gallifreya. One of Gallifrey’s two moons. The Time Lords had industrialised it for smelting purposes millennia back. It’s high concentration of taranium was mined to be used in temporal technology. It had been used in different iterations of TARDISs, in Time Scoops and a whole host of other Time Lord technology. The Master had commandeered it for his own usage shortly after killing off the rest of his people. He’d been searching for any stragglers, concerned that they may have already started back up mining operations, instead he’d found the perfect place for a secondary conversion chamber in one of the old mines. He landed his ship on the coppery coloured surface of the moon, near the entrance to the mine and made his way down, keeping his eyes peeled the whole time for any blondes in rainbow sweaters.

The walk down into the mines was eerily silent. Not that there should have been any noise, but he was still on edge, a million different plans on how to handle this situation running through his head. He’d kill her dead, but perhaps he should figure out who it was currently taking residence in the Doctor’s head. She was unpredictable like this. The Master knew the Doctor. He knew how she acted, he knew how she would feel about every situation, he knew the Doctor even better than the Doctor knew herself sometimes.

The mines, especially near the opening, were heavily reinforced to prevent cave ins. Also, he knew, housed a myriad of horrible devices and weapons that the Time Lords had had installed during the Time War. Even as Gallifrey had fallen back, calling all Time Lords back to the front to defend the planet itself, they hadn’t wanted the Daleks to get a hold of the mining operations. Luckily for them, their great enemies had been far more interested in ripping the planet apart and murdering all life than adventuring down into a system of tunnels beneath the surface of one of Gallifrey’s moons.

He kept going down until he could step into the still running conversion chambers and inspected over the collection of 50 or so CyberMasters who all stood to attention as he stepped into the room. It gave him a rush of power to have control over these creatures. Not just Cybermen but Time Lords too. He won. In the overall picture. He won. He beat the Cybermen. He beat the Time Lords. He beat the Doctor.

“We’re going on a trip.” He told his Cybermasters, clasping his hands behind his back, “up to the TARDIS.”

50 CyberMasters gave matching salutes in response to his order and then all spun and began marching out the room and up through the cavernous mines. The Master followed behind them, calmly watching them make their way up and it wasn’t until a familiar voice called out from further up in the mines.

“You really didn’t go far did you?” His hearts twinged in fear for a split second before he looked to the army of his CyberMasters and determination wrapped around his hearts like steel and he pointed up the mine shaft towards the blonde further up.

“Kill her!” His CyberMasters all launched into action, all of them moving into a more attack ready formation, their arms raising to point their weapons at her.

There was a moment where the Master genuinely thought he was going to win. That for all the talk from this new ‘not Doctor’, she was nowhere near as effective as the _real_ Doctor and he would wipe out both once and for all in this one moment. His army of immortal CyberMasters advanced on her, growing ever closer and only thing that bothered him, and it was a minor thing really, was that she didn’t look all that worried. She watched the approaching Cybermen with a raised eyebrow and it was right as the one closest to her in front raised its arm so that its gun was pointed at her that it happened.

Four pillars raised in a square between the two of them, covering the Cybermasters and there was a sudden buzzing noise and a burst of blue energy that came forth over them and they went suddenly still. They gave a jarring shudder, and all came to a stop. There were matching groaning noises from each of them. The Not Doctor looked seconds away from just inspecting her nails out of sheer boredom. A following blast of energy, this time more red-tinted, came from the four pillars and his army simply collapsed like marionettes having their strings cut. His whole being seemed to slump in shock and confusion and the Not Doctor merely rolled her eyes with a grin, throwing her arms out wide as she yelled to him.

“Was that it? No offense here, but I was expecting a lot more! All those marvellous plans over the years and this is what you’ve got for me?”

“What did you do?” he asked once she’d trudged through the mud over to him. Stepping over the still bodies of his wasted creations as she came closer. Frankly he was stumped for an explanation as to what had just happened.

“What? You don’t recognise it? I got the idea from a memory involving you. Or, at least, one you. That one seemed a little more pliable.” He took a second to realise what she was talking about but the fleeting memory of his almost execution back when he wore corsets came to mind.

“ _This technology is precisely calibrated. As you can see, it will stop both hearts, all three brain stems, and deliver a cellular shock wave that will permanently disable regenerative ability._ ” Rafando of the Executioners had been a man of a singular mindset, as Missy, the Master hadn’t given him or the rest of his little gang of neck choppers much thought. Her attention mostly turning to the Doctor when the eyebrow heavy version had been brought in to pull the plug on her. The machinery they used though was precise, one little nudge in its wiring, and it could be made to malfunction. This time it didn’t malfunction.

He’d implemented an army with the ability to regenerate and she’d simply cancelled it out with tech that was already there. Since she still had access to the Doctor’s memories, he’d have to be careful about what he did. She would know him as well as the Doctor had, and he had no clue who she was if she wasn’t the Doctor. An unknown entity.

“What they did to you, locking you away, I can help you make them pay.” He tried to do what he did best. Manipulating, offering everything and anything he could to get himself out of a situation, “after all you must have done. For them to just lock you away inside your own mind, it’s a wonder you’re so calm. I know I wouldn’t be.” She simply rolled her eyes at his attempt.

“You think that I was some hard done by hero, like the Doctor?” the Not Doctor’s tone was taunting as she smirked at him, “You think they wiped my memory because of something _they’d_ done?” she laughed suddenly, throwing her head back as though that was the most hilarious thing she’d ever heard. The Master’s hearts dropped to his stomach; he’d already put this much together but having it confirmed made him swallow nervously.

“So… why was your mind wiped?”

“Well, they couldn’t kill me. There’s no limit on my ability to regenerate. They couldn’t keep me trapped. No prison could hold me. But then they figured out a way to stop me. Ingenious actually, I will give them that. They simply caught me long enough to erase me, or they thought they had.” She grinned, spreading her arms, “I took a gamble. Hid myself away, asleep in the depths of my mind. Until you came along. I still haven’t thanked you for that, have I?” The Master was silent for a moment, watching her as his mind raced, trying to come up with a question to follow and the face of a woman he’d seen whilst searching through the Doctor’s memories came to the forefront of his mind.

“You said you’re not the Doctor?” She raised an eyebrow at that, head tilting slightly as she looked to him like that was obvious.

“Clearly.”

“Why did you tell her you were?” her eyebrows furrowed for a second, clearly not understanding what he was asking until it clicked, and she just shrugged, figure suddenly a lot less amused looking, more forcefully blank.

“I was, once.” The Master’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion this time, her words not making any sense to him. She didn’t give him much of a chance to mull it over, because in the next second, she’d pulled a blaster of some kind from her pocket and fired it at him. He dodged, throwing himself to the ground before backing away on his hands.

“You still haven’t actually said thank you,” the Master told her quickly, now feeling rather desperate to keep her talking and stop her from advancing any closer.

“Thank you.” She told him, sounding actually rather sincere, “as thanks I would’ve killed you last, but,” she smirked, giving him a half-amused shrug, “it’s hardly my fault you killed every other Time Lord in existence.” She began advancing on him once more and he scrambled back and blurted out the first thing he could think of.

“But I’m not the only one left!” The Not Doctor paused mid stride and lifted an unimpressed eyebrow that told him just how little she believed him, but he just continued his explanation quickly, “check the Doctor’s memories. Back when she was old and grumpy with the eyebrows. The last time she was on Gallifrey before, she kicked out the High Council, dethroned Rassilon and had them all exiled. They’re all still out there.” At the mention of the former Lord President the Not Doctor’s face went eerily blank. Rage flittered near the surface for just a moment, with her clenching fists and twitching eye but she seemed to reign it in quicker than the Master ever would have been able to.

“Seems you’re right.” She took a step back, looking him up and down, “guess I’ll go pay a visit to those council members first. Rip out some throats. You took most of the fun out of destroying Gallifrey by leaving it to be done by the press of a button. Sometimes you want to get your hands dirty.”

“And Rassilon?” he asked as she started walking away from him.

“He’ll get what’s coming. But I want him to know it’s coming first. He and I will have a lot to discuss. He has a lot to answer for.”


	2. Chapter 2

The Master stayed on his spot on the ground as the Not Doctor walked away and finally disappeared around a corner. He stayed there until somewhere in the distance he could hear the distant wheezing of the Doctor’s TARDIS as it disappeared in search of Rassilon and his High Council. As soon as he could be certain that he was alone he scrambled to onto his feet, making a face at the dirt now running down his trousers and back and the backs of his arms from where he’d crawled back away from her. Scowling down at his wasted Cyber army the Master stepped over them and made his way up to his TARDIS.

She’d known Rassilon. That much had been evident from her reaction to the Master mentioning him. And if she was hunting down the High Council then maybe he could find Rassilon first? He needed to know what he was up against and that was his only lead so far. Getting back into his TARDIS he set co-ordinates to the last known place that he knew Rassilon had been. It wouldn’t be a guarantee. And if he was still there, the Master would have to be careful because he’d known that the rest of the High Council had been there with the man, and if this Not Doctor was hunting them down first them he’d need to avoid that.

He stepped out into bloodshed after he landed.

His hearts dropped to his stomach and he almost felt ill at the sight of it all. He’d done his fair share of tearing people apart in his lifetime, but this was more than even he could really stomach. The room he’d landed in was drenched in blood and body parts. The people clearly had no chance, but some had tried to get away. One of the bodies, one of the only ones still intact was halfway into the next room, the door continuously attempting to slide shut before bumping into the torso and opening again. He caught sight of what looked to be one of the high collar pieces of the High Council, torn in half but still recognisable. Somehow, he kept arriving too late. He contemplated leaving. He contemplated running but the sound of something from further inside.

He heard the voices before he saw them. He could recognise the Doctor’s distinctive Sheffield accent and the lower toned male voice of who he assumed to be Rassilon. He got closer, trying to remain as quiet as possible as to not be seen and he peered around the corner, eyes widening at what he saw.

The Not Doctor had Rassilon held in place, his hands restrained behind him as his body fell forward in a position that couldn’t have been comfortable. In fact, it was most likely very painful. The Not Doctor was pacing in front of him like an animal caging in its prey. She was covered in blood. Her pale hands now just red, along with the front of her clothing. The Doctor’s blue grey jacket now streaked in quickly drying red. Right as the Master turned his head around the corner to look she thrust a blade clutched in her hand into Rassilon’s stomach, her other hand gripping at the man’s shoulder to ensure she got it in without his wriggling.

“See here’s the thing,” the Not Doctor pushed the blade in further, dragging it across in a way that made Rassilon cry out and the Master wince from his place hidden as he watched. Her voice was calm, taunting even, she clearly thought nothing much of her actions, not like the Doctor would have, “you could die right now. You could refuse to regenerate, and you could surprise me, irritate me further by just letting yourself die.” She pulled back slightly to look him in the eye, tugging the blade back out as she went, her eyes narrowed as a smirk played at her lips, “however, we both know you won’t do that. Did you ever find that immortality you were looking for?”

Rassilon was silent for a moment, glaring up at her, clearly holding out for as long as he was able to make himself before his skin began to glow with the bright sheen of regeneration and the Not Doctor simply took a step back.

“I should’ve known better than to think you wiped out.” The man growled out as the glow around him brightened, hatred biting into his every word, “I hope this new chance of life treats you just as horribly as the last.” Her eyes narrowed, rage clear across her features as her hand clenched around the weapon in her hand, like she could barely wait for his regeneration to finish before she could plunge the blade back into the man and start the process all over again. When the regeneration energy finally faded, and a completely new looking man was left in the former Lord President’s place, the Not Doctor stepped forward once again, running the tip of the blade down over his cheek, not cutting just giving the hint of it, and sat the flat of it under his chin to tilt his head up.

“I’m going to kill you again. And then again. And then again. Until you’ve blown through every last one of your regenerations, and I finally make you pay for everything you did to me. Until I shatter every last shred of hope left in those cold dead hearts of yours, break the mirage in your head of you living forever. Forever is mine and mine alone. And as long as your hearts still beat, I will have no peace in this eternity.”

“You should have been left on that planet where you were found-” Rassilon cut himself off with another loud cry of pain as the knife plunged back into his gut, this time with renewed anger from the Not Doctor who looked close to frustrated tears, Rassilon’s words clearly getting to her. As she pulled it out Rassilon let out another pained groan but seeing as he’d just regenerated the excess energy from it meant he could simply just heal himself again.

“I was a child!” She growled out her words, rage shrouding the wounds that Rassilon’s words inflicted, “All of this is your doing. You and Peylix and Tectuen. And since Peylix is gone and my _mother_ ” She spat the word out like it was something poisoned, “disappeared and neither of you wanted to tell me where, it’s only you left to face the repercussions of your actions.”

“I hope when death comes for you finally, it’s through as much pain and suffering as you’ve wrought.”

“I’ve wrought?” those words were a roaring snarl. Any self-control she may have had disappearing, any plan that she may have had to deal with Rassilon being forgotten as she brought the blade down into the man. Again, and again, and again, and again. The man’s struggling and cries eventually stopping and the Master saw it as the man’s regeneration energy tried to save him, but she didn’t give him a chance. He backed up, making his way as quietly as possible back through the Bowship towards his TARDIS, his hearts hammering in his chest and his TCE held tightly in his grip, ready to fire at a moment’s notice. He needed a new plan. He kept his pace slow, not wanting to be heard or draw any attention to himself, he’d leave her to spend time on Rassilon. It gave him more time to get as far away as possible. He tried to ignore the churning in his stomach as he stepped back over the near shredded remains of the High Council and got back inside his TARDIS.

A thought occurred to him like a bolt of lightning. A spark of an idea igniting in his brain and he was already inputting controls before his brain had even put together all the details that would be needed. This Not Doctor may have all the Doctor’s memories, but she wouldn’t have her instincts on how to deal with things. She wouldn’t have ever faced even half of what the Doctor had faced in her long life. And if the Master was good at anything, except murder and manipulation, it was making the right kind of friends for the right kind of reasons.

His ship landed and he stepped out, already holding his hands up with a smirk on his face as he stared into the eyestalks of the Time Lord’s greatest enemies.

“A TARDIS has landed in the lower levels. There is an intruder. Identify yourself.”

“Hello. I think I have a plan that could benefit us both. It’s regarding the Doctor.”

The Master had never thought he’d feel safer surrounded by Daleks before.

><><><><><

Trying to work out a plan that would keep the Daleks happy – as happy as emotionless logic and death driven creatures could be- and the Master alive was a feat indeed. However, he’d done it before, and he’d do it again. They didn’t need to know that the Doctor may no longer be the one at the helm. They’d just scan her body, think that it was her, and he’d have the deadliest race in the universe all hunting her down at once. It was tiring dealing with the Supreme Dalek. Dalek’s lacked much imagination and they tended to try and argue some of the intricate details of his plan. He wasn’t in much of a position to barter but he figured this could be the answer to his problems, so he stayed put and took the time to barter. It was a strange day where he’d feel more at ease surrounded on all sides by the most dangerous species in the universe, but stranger things had happened alone in the last twenty-four hours.

This time he had a few hours, the Not Doctor not yet showing up before him or immediately afterwards like she had the last few times. He’d actually begun to think that he’d managed to sneak away somewhere that she didn’t know to follow or wasn’t willing to follow. It was as he was finishing up the plans that everything went wrong.

“Well, we just have to hunt the Doctor down. She’s on a wander around the universe.” His plan was starting to come together when his smirk dropped off of his face as a new voice was heard suddenly.

“The Doctor is dead. I’m living here now!” Her voice rung out, a snarling growl to it that made the room fall silent and still.

“Explain.” The Supreme Dalek barked out the order and The Not Doctor’s head tilted in consideration for a moment before she jumped neatly down from the perch she’d been stood upon and gave her jacket a quick tug as though to smooth it out. Her hands were still red with dried in blood, said jacket still streaked the same in blood. Worse than he’d seen it before. He wondered how much of it was Rassilon’s. He wondered how she’d left the former Lord President when she’d left.

“You can thank the Master over there.” She nodded her head towards him, and his eyes darted nervously towards the Daleks again, not fancying having them hunt him down as well for lying to them, “the Doctor was merely renting out the space.” She motioned her hands down over herself, “I’ve been a long time coming. And I can only apologise for my counterpart’s behaviour throughout the years.” She sat a hand over one of her hearts, her face scrunching up in a half mocking sympathy. The Daleks all seemed confused, or rather, as confused as Daleks could look. Their eyestalks all swivelling around to look at one another, then to the Master, before all metallic eyestalks were back on the Not Doctor.

“You are not the Doctor?”

“No.” her hands dropped to her sides and she began meandering her way between the Daleks with a casual sway to her movements that put the Master on edge and he began, very slowly, backing up towards the nearest exit, the one that he knew his ship was just down the other end of. “This was her body, but to be fair, it was mine first. I’ve just been asleep, for a very long time.”

“You have defeated the greatest enemy of the Daleks?”

“Hm?” her head darted around to the Dalek Supreme, “oh. Yeah. Suppose I have. Not really enough room in here for both of us at once.” The Master’s gaze snapped back on her with that sentence, thoughts already beginning to race inside of his head. What did she mean by that? Even her taking credit for his work in destroying the Doctor went unnoticed in that moment.

“The Doctor is defeated! Daleks shall reign supreme!” The Supreme Dalek yelled out, as elated as a Dalek could sound and the other around them, the others inside of the ship as well, joined in.

“ _The Doctor is defeated. Daleks shall reign supreme_!”

“Yeah. Go Daleks.” She gave a mocking little fist in the air, a smirk playing on her face before she clasped her hands behind her back and continued meandering through them. “Of course, you would if it weren’t for the explosives.” At once the Daleks all turned to her, their cries of triumph cut off by their confusion over her words. She merely grinned wildly directly into the vision of the Dalek nearest her, giving a mocking little wave to it. It was then the whole ship shuddered. Then again. The Daleks started to panic.

“What is happening?” the Dalek supreme called out and the Not Doctor beamed in amusement.

“Ah, yeah. That’ll be me. See, a little healthy competition never hurt anyone. Anyone important anyway.” She shrugged mockingly, “And I haven’t committed mass genocide since,” she paused, glancing down to the watch strapped to her wrist and hmphed out a heavy breath with a light shrug, “oh, ten seconds from now?”

The Master bolted from the room. His TARDIS was at the other end of the corridor he stepped into. The countdown was rushing down in his head and he could feel the rumblings of other explosions being set off one after the other in a rushed pattern and he made it inside his ship with only a few points of a second to go. His own ship shuddered from the force of the Dalek ship outside as it was torn apart by the explosives the Not Doctor had set off. She’d made it out. Because of course she had. He wouldn’t be so naive to believe anything else by this point. He leaned back against the doors of his ship, his eyes wide and his chest heaving as his twin hearts and double respiratory system tried to get his breathing back under control after his mad dash. He’d never been made for running like the Doctor. Never been the one having to run. Now he had to run from an enemy who’d just wiped out a whole Dalek fleet ship in under a minute after having never met any Daleks before.

He was going to need help. Actual help. Help from people that knew the Doctor in a very different way. He rushed to his console and set co-ordinates for Earth, wondering if humanity could be the solution, in reaching for whatever soft side may still exist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise after this chapter it won't just be an array of her just showing up right after him or having already been there XD This is just set up, hope you guys are enjoying! Also sorry for disappearing, this hasn't been a great last few weeks. My drive to write has taken a hit but I'm still trying to get as much done as I can make myself do.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're just gonna ignore the fact that UNIT is now cannonically defunded cause that was a very stupid decision. Hope you guys enjoy!

He’d barely taken two steps out of his TARDIS before he felt a familiar piercing sensation hitting his neck from behind him to his left. He turned, a snarl of anger leaving him as his arm lifted, his TCE already in his palm and ready to fire. A figure clad in black combat armour was stood, a dart gun in hand. But before the Master was able to fire, hands were quick to grab his arms. his vision started to go blurry before he could really think to do much else. He collapsed onto his knees, hands grabbing him to make sure he didn’t drop and hit his head off of the concrete. His last thought before he blacked out was of how much he hated this miserable planet and its hordes of idiots living on it.

><><><

“We got a hold of him and his TARDIS right after he landed. We’ve been testing out a new scanner that tells us whenever a TARDIS lands.”

“And you immediately jabbed him with a knockout shot?” The Doctor raised an eyebrow at the other woman, “what if it had been me?”

“Well, we’re going to wake him up.” Kate smirked in easy amusement, put in mind of the Doctor’s last form with the eyebrows and then nodded in greeting to the guards stood post at the doorway to the Tower of London. The door was pulled open for them and then closed behind them. “It’s good to see you again, by the way.” Kate told her quietly, now that they were alone.

“And you.” The Doctor seemed surprised that she’d said what she had and seemed slightly awkward as she replied. Then she frowned for a moment, as though deep in thought then glanced around to her once more, “Why do you have him in the Tower? Especially if the Archive is in here too?”

“This is one of the most secure facilities in the world. We have every precaution taken. Even some things that might slow you in your tracks.”

“Like what?”

“If I told you then that would negate the point in having them.” Kate threw her a friendly teasing grin and flashed her ID to the next guards standing who were both quick to pull the doors open for them and they stepped through into a dark corridor lit only by dark red ceiling lights. “You can stay and watch if you like?” They came to a stop in front of a panel of one-way glass, through which the Master’s unconscious figure could be seen, slumped forward with his arms bound to the table where they could be seen this time. Kate couldn’t help but notice the Doctor looked mildly annoyed to acquiesce standing out there whilst she made her way inside the room.

><><><

His first sensation when waking up was the feeling of something being pulled out from his skin after having been jabbed into his neck. The opposite as to what had happened before. The Master jolted upwards, quickly aware of his bound hands and then of the familiar looking person sitting calmly across from him. He was quick to try and stamp down on his rage, sucking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly before he locked eyes with Kate Stewart and lifted his bound hands as far as he could make them go.

“I come in peace, for once. This wasn’t necessary.”

“With you? Yes, it was.”

“How did you know it was me by the way? I could have been the Doctor.”

“And we’d do it to the Doctor as well. Protocols are in place. She just found us before it was necessary.” At once the Master tensed, his hearts stuttering in fear.

“How long have you had me here?”

“Just a few hours.” He cursed. Cursing the human race and specifically these morons with their protocols and abilities to knock out Time Lords. How did the Doctor like them so much? He couldn’t understand it. If they got him killed… Movement to his left caught his eye and his eyes widened, staring in terror at the small blonde stood watching him through the viewing screen with a smile on her face and a glint in her eye. The blood was gone, and she even gave him a little taunting friendly wave. He watched as Kate Stewart glanced between the two, clearly confused by the exchange, by the clear fear that the Master was displaying. “You need to let me out.”

“And why exactly would we do that?”

“Because that’s not the Doctor. I would know, I killed the Doctor. Or trapped her away in her own subconscious. One or the other, I haven’t figured it out yet. But she’s trying to kill me, so you can lock me up, as long as you keep her far away from me. As it stands, however, I’m going to be the only one who knows what actually happened, so send her away and then we can talk.”

“You can’t be serious.” She was smirking, like she was barely holding back her amusement, as though anything that he was saying was somehow funny. She didn’t believe him, and he caught the Not Doctor grinning in delight outside the room and resisted the urge to grit his teeth and growl in frustration. It wouldn’t get him anywhere here and he knew it. Damn the Doctor for having built such an unquestioning rapport with the human race that anyone could swan in and claim to be her and be believed if they smiled a bit.

“Of course I am. Spend time with her, you’ll find she’s a little… off. But I am begging you, do not let her take me anywhere. It’ll end in a bloodbath, and at this point I’m not even sure who’ll end up worse off, but I have this sinking feeling it’ll be me.” Kate frowned at him, clearly taken off guard by his words and he spotted how she turned her head slightly to the one way glass before she quickly looked back to him and her gaze hardened and she got to her feet. “See you soon.” He told her with an easy tilt of his head as she made her way towards the doors.

><><><

Leaving the Master in his cell, Kate and the Doctor had made their way into the Black Archives and Kate had watched as the Doctor began inspecting items in the room as though she’d never seen them before.

“Everything alright?” she asked the other woman, frowning in concern when the Doctor glanced up in surprise at the question.

“Yeah, course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, you’ve been in here before, is all.”

“Ah, well, been a while.”

“How long has it been for you?” the Doctor seemed to have to think for a moment before she answered with a slight shrug.

“A long while. At least a century, I think. Maybe it was longer.” She fell silent as something caught her eye and she reached onto a shelf and pulled out a small organic looking device, a nostalgic looking smile on her face, “this reminds me of the TARDIS back when she was just a baby piece of coral. Barely out of being a sapling.” Kate’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the Doctor’s words.

“My father told me you always said you stole the TARDIS.” She watched the Doctor momentarily freeze in place, like someone caught out on something they said and again she found herself thinking back on the Master and of his confusing fear towards the Doctor. To the strange feeling like something was ‘off’ about the Doctor this time around.

“Oh yeah,” she said eventually with a little smile that didn’t reach her eyes, “silly me. That old now, even my own history is fuzzy. That’s me. A thief in a box that wasn’t mine.” Her last words were mumbled slightly as she turned back to the shelf she’d been perusing through moments before. “So how long until I can take the Master and get out of your hair?”

The part of her that trusted the Doctor implicitly wanted to tell her that she could take him as soon as they headed back downstairs, but the sceptical part of her was beginning to win out. The part that was beginning to take credence in what the Master had spouted. Because something felt wrong with this woman. The Doctor normally, no matter how they looked, felt like the Doctor. Something felt wrong here.

“It will be another few hours yet.” She gave her an apologetic smile and didn’t miss the annoyed scowl the Doctor gave as she turned away again. She watched the woman puttering about for another few minutes before Kate motioned for the woman to give her a moment and was easily waved off and allowed to step to the side. She’d need more proof to prove to herself that this woman wasn’t really the Doctor. That what the Master had said was true. She pulled out her phone and put in a phone call, knowing already exactly what she was going to do to find it.

><><><

“Doctor!” Kate watched the blonde woman freeze at the sound of her former companion calling out in relief for her. Her facial expression went considerably blank of anything before annoyance flickered coldly in her hazel eyes as Yasmin Khan rushed forward to throw her arms around her in a tight hug. Kate’s doubt in this woman doubled. “Where have you been?”

“Yaz,” she gave the other woman an awkward pat on the back then tried to take a step back, aiming to untangle herself from Yaz’s arms and she looked to the side where Ryan and Graham were stood, both watching her with their own relieved expressions on their faces, “Ryan, Graham. My Fam. I’m here coming after the Master, why are you here?”

“It’s been 6 months. We thought something had happened!”

“You came here after the Master? Did he manage to escape?” Ryan asked, eyes wide in worry.

“It’s being taken care of; you lot don’t have to worry. He tried to do a runner, but Kate’s lot managed to catch him for me.”

“Where is he now?”

“He’s being kept in a specialised cell beneath the tower.” Kate informed them before glancing to her phone for an excuse for her leaving, “excuse me, there’s something I need to look into quickly.” She normally wouldn’t like leaving civilians in any kind of danger, but she hoped that as long as this person was keeping up the act of being the Doctor, then they would be alright. The ‘Doctor’ threw her another annoyed look at the prospect of being left alone with her companions but the grin was back as soon as she turned back to them, not letting it show for them if it could be helped.

><><><

“Alright, explain everything that happened.” Kate sat herself down into the chair across from the Master, folding her arms and keeping her eyes on him at all times. The man raised an eyebrow for only a second before he opened his mouth to tell the story.

“Well, it all started when I eradicated Gallifrey.” Kate’s expression turned horrified and the Master momentarily went off topic, “where have you put my TARDIS?” She shuffled awkwardly in her seat for a split second and the Master’s hearts dropped, “where is it?”

“It’s in the back of a travel truck, on its way to our facility in Blackpool.” He was quick to close his eyes and take in as calming a deep breath as he could manage, trying desperately to not lose his temper like he so wanted to. He kept repeating to himself that he could use Unit’s help to take this Not Doctor down.

“Well great.”

“What happened to the Doctor? And how do we get her back?”

><><><

“Doctor!” Kate stumbled back into the Black Archive room, calling out desperately over the sound of the blaring alarms that were now sounding, and the blonde appeared in front of her in moments, a look on her face that might have been concern.

“What happened?” She asked.

“He’s escaped.”

“What?” her face turned thunderous and she all but barged passed the UNIT scientific head out towards the holding cells where the Master had been being kept, the Doctor’s companions following them quickly. She burst into the cell, skidding to a stop in the middle of the room when she found it empty. She let out a frustrated groan of annoyance and spun around, intending on leaving to go find him, only for the door to slide shut in her face before she could take another step. There was a moment where this woman, whoever she really was, went still in what could have been surprise and then she let out a huff of amusement, ducking her head for a second before she lifted it with a smile on her face. She turned her head to look at Kate through the viewing screen, raising an eyebrow at the sight of the Master stood next to her, along with Yaz, Ryan and Graham, “you’re really taking his word on this?”

“What are you doing?” Yaz exclaimed, visibly distraught at the turn of events.

“You gave yourself away.” Kate informed her, ignoring the companion’s panic, “and if he’s our best chance at getting the Doctor back and getting rid of whoever you are, then we’ll have to take it.”

“You can’t trust him. He just wants me dead so he can finish off the Doctor once and for all. He’s just letting you think he’ll get the Doctor back to save his own skin. I’ve got nothing against you lot,” she held a hand against her chest over one of her hearts, “I swear. Let me go, let me get him and nothing else has to happen.”

“This isn’t the Doctor.” The Master told her companions simply and they turned, confused, to look at the woman stood in the cell ahead of them.

“What do you mean? Then who is she?” Yaz turned and asked her quietly, alarmed, “what did you do to the Doctor?”

“Me?” she looked mildly surprised and fixed the human with a raised eyebrow, “I didn’t do anything to the Doctor. He did.” She pointed to the Master and all eyes turned to him briefly and he refused to react, keeping his focus on the Not Doctor trapped in the room in front of them, “strapped her to a chair and messed around with her head until he opened up the doorway to let me out. All I did was step through. And it was my body first, I was just taking back what was mine.”

“How can you even say that? It’s the Doctor’s body!” Ryan cried out this time, horrified and the Not Doctor fixed him with a look of frustration.

“You don’t know anything. I was here first, before ‘the Doctor’ even existed. But you don’t need my story, you don’t even know the Doctors and you’re gonna let me out of here, right now.”

“You’ll stay right there until we figure out a way to get the Doctor back.” Kate informed her and the Not Doctor’s face dropped out of whatever mildly friendly pretence that it had been showing before. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small circular button, her face now showing up unimpressed she was.

“Okay, fine.” She sighed heavily in annoyance and all eyes were immediately fixed on the device in her hand, an uneasy feeling spreading through the Master’s gut. “You really shouldn’t have left me alone for so long inside that Archive room.” She waved the device around and Kate’s face paled, the only one to recognise it amongst them.

“Oh god.”

“What is it?” Yaz asked.

“It’s the remote detonator. It starts the countdown that sets off the nuclear explosives beneath this tower.” The three human’s expressions turned just as horrified as Kate’s.

“Hang on, there’s nukes underneath London?” Graham questioned but went ignored as Kate turned her focus back to the woman inside her cell.

“You’re bluffing.”

“She’s really not.” Attention turned to the Master when he spoke up, not looking away from the Not Doctor who simply smirked at him. “She’s just come from setting off a death particle on Gallifrey. What’s left of that planet is now free floating through the Kasterborous System. I wouldn’t doubt her on her word.”

“Oh my god.” Yaz immediately turned away slightly, clearly overwhelmed as the situation finally all seemed to hit her at once, “I knew there was something wrong with her.” She turned back, eyes wide, “Doctor, how could-”

“Don’t call me that!” The Not Doctor looked to her, “don’t you dare call me that. I’m not the Doctor.”

“Then who are you? What do we call you?” Kate asked and for once the woman inside the cell actually looked rather flustered.

“Well, I don’t know yet, do I? This whole past day has been a mess of planets blowing up and destroying Dalek Crucibles. I haven’t had a chance to sit down and have a think yet.”

“You don’t have a name?” Ryan questioned and she sighed heavily.

“I just haven’t decided what it is yet.”

“But you said you’d been in the Doctor’s head, that you came first. Surely you had a name back then?” Yaz asked next and the woman’s face turned thunderous and the Master was about to wave the humans off but in answer to the human’s questioning, at their refusal to drop the subject, she simply lifted the button so they could watch as she pressed it.

“Your voice override isn’t gonna work I’m afraid, this right here is the only on and off switch for those nuclear bombs. So,” the Not Doctor snarled at them from within her closed glass cell, eyes fixed on Kate who watched her in growing horror at her words, “you can either let me out of this cell, or you can stand there, and then we, and the rest of the Southern Seaboard, can go up in a whoosh of fire and explosions, your choice!” The countdown was ticking down and without the clock on the wall telling them how long they had left they were left with an arbitrary guess on when they would go off.

“I’ll open the cell! Stop the countdown!” Kate cried out and the Master whirled around to her with wide eyes.

“What are you doing?”

“Your life against 9 million.” She countered angrily, pressing the button to open the cell. The glass slid open and the Not Doctor stepped out, a satisfied smirk on her face. She paused for a moment right outside, cricked her neck and then, quick as a flash, lifted her blaster and fired.

Kate didn’t even have a chance to yelp in pain before she was disintegrated into a pile of grey looking dust scattered across the floor in the spot she’d been stood in. The group around her had all jerked back and the Fam could only look in horror back to the Not Doctor. She’d just committed cold blooded murder right in front of them. Any doubts they may have had about this not being the Doctor disintegrated along with the head of UNIT.

“What did you do that for?” Yaz cried out to her, anger seeping into her voice and the Not Doctor just shrugged casually.

“She got in my way. And nothing is going to stop me from getting what I want. I may have a soft spot for your little species, but don’t think for a second that I won’t burn you down as well if you even think about trying to get in my way. Your planet has nothing to offer me anymore, I will tear it apart if I have to, to get what I want.”

“And what do you want?” Graham asked.

“The Time Lords wiped out.” Her eyes fixed on the Master who’d already been trying to make a stealthy retreat towards the exit, “and he’s the last one left.”

“The Doctor’s a Time Lord.” Yaz tried to inform her but a snarl left the blonde as her rage turned on the police trainee.

“The Doctor’s not here! _The Doctor_ will never be here ever again! _The Doctor_ was the imposter in this body. Like squatting in a house that’s already been sold. Now, are you gonna step out of my way, or do you wanna join your friend?” she motioned to the pile of dust, a crazed look in her eyes as her fingers clenched around the blaster in her hand.

The Master reached into the shelf of objects next to him and one quick adjustment later and the Kaptip torch that he’d grabbed onto sparked so brightly that it temporarily blinded half of the room. For some reason he called out to the others, deciding to give them an instruction rather than leaving them as distractions so he could escape.

“Run, now!”

“Where are we going?” Graham called out after him as they all finally bolted and the Master’s mind raced as he tried to think of somewhere they could go. They’d need to go get his TARDIS somehow. Find a ride to Blackpool, break into the UNIT headquarters there. One of these humans probably had a car.

“Look, it’s the TARDIS!” Yaz called out, interrupting the Master’s train of thought and sure enough, as they rounded a corner, there she was. The Doctor’s dark blue, ancient, monstrosity of a ship stood waiting at the end of the corridor. The Master hesitated for only a second before he figured it was their best chance right now, at the very least he could just bring her to Blackpool and get a head start. He all but pulled the key out of Yaz’s hand as she reached into her pocket for it and was the first to reach the doors.

He didn’t hesitate to jump into the TARDIS first ahead of the Doctor’s Fam. They rushed in behind him and it took the Master a second to realise that Ryan hadn’t closed the door properly as he followed in last, stumbling at the last minute meaning the door was still open and they could see the Valeyard as she stalked up the hall towards them.

“Close the damn door!” He snarled out towards the young man who struggled towards his feet to reach for the door. The Valeyard had raised her arm, her blaster in hand and the shot she fired was heading straight towards Ryan who was stood reaching for the door. The Master had just readied himself to having to deal with the grief of the other two when this one became a pile of dust when the door swung shut without Ryan touching it, right in the Valeyard’s face. Everyone froze in shock, and they heard the blaster shot bounce away and then the sound of the Valeyard as she reached the doors and tried to pull them open.

The doors didn’t budge. His confusion lasted only a second before the Master started trying it implement controls to take them far away from here. He didn’t get to finish, however, before the TARDIS herself flipped the take-off lever and they were all tossed sidelong as the ship rushed to take them away. The Master grabbed onto the console best he could and looked from the take-off lever up to the central column, his eyes wide as realisation struck him.

“You want her back as well…” The TARDIS let out an extra groan, passed the usual flight sounds and the lights across the entire room flashed in answer to him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at that, I'm a whole day early! Go me being proactive and on top of shit (for this week only, realistically) XD Hope you guys enjoy!

When the shaking finally came to a stop the room fell silent. The Master’s head dropped as he sighed tiredly and he walked over until he could drop onto the steps that were the only entryway into the rest of the TARDIS. The humans were all still picking themselves up from various places on the floor, the TARDIS not having made that journey all together comfortable for them.

“Where are we?” Yaz asked finally and he answered without looking to her, his chin resting on his fist as his elbow rested on his knee.

“The TARDIS has created a little bubble for us. Just a second or two out of synch with the rest of the universe. We should be safe for now. Especially if she either has to find my TARDIS, or especially if she chooses to use the Vortex Manipulator UNIT has stored away.”

“A bubble? Like Gallifrey was in?” Ryan asked and the Master could only shrug.

“No. But to save your tiny little brains from struggling and failing to comprehend the enormity of what’s required to hide away an entire planet the size of Gallifrey,” he lifted his head to them with a mocking little smirk, “yes. It’s like that.” They all scowled at him in annoyance and it was Yaz who took a few steps towards him, crossing her arms like that might make her in any way more intimidating as she tried to berate him.

“You know, we wouldn’t even be in this situation if you hadn’t done what you did in the first place.”

“How was I to know I would unleash an ancient evil from the depths of the Doctor’s subconscious who would want to murder me? How would anyone have foreseen that? I’d just intended to leave her braindead or something. Do cut me some slack.” Yaz immediately scoffed in disbelief, turning away and rubbing her head to try and rid herself of her sudden headache.

“Oh my god.”

“Alright,” the older human, Graham he was pretty sure, spoke up, evidently trying to calm the room and keep the peace, “all this has happened now, we just need to accept that and move on to how in the hell we’re going to fix this.” At once three sets of eyes turned to the Master and he raised an eyebrow at them in response.

“What? I already tried, twice. A whole army of regenerative Cybermen and then an entire Dalek crucible and she swept through those in one move. Lobbing off her head is my next idea but I know even that can be regenerated from if you’re quick enough.”

“Really?” Ryan asked, visibly horrified at the prospect but Yaz barely let him get the question out before she snapped once again.

“We aren’t killing her. We’re getting the Doctor back!”

“Ah, well,” the Master lounged back on the step with a shrug, “with that I have no clue.”

“You mean you were gonna wipe the Doctor’s mind with no way of putting it back?” Graham asked him, aghast and the Master didn’t resist the urge to roll his eyes at the prospect of them being surprised by that.

“Of course, I didn’t. I wanted the Doctor dead, or at least the closest to it. That’s always been how the Doctor and I operated. I try and kill her, and she always escaped. I finally proved I’m smarter.”

“No, you finally proved what a moron you are.” His gaze snapped to Yaz, a growl of offence already rumbling from his chest upwards as he bared his teeth at her.

“I’d watch your tongue if I were you, just because you came here doesn’t mean I won’t rip it out for insolence.”

“Oh please, you think we’d choose to be stuck here with you. Like Kate said, you’re our best hope of getting the Doctor back.”

“Great, so that means I’m stuck with you?” He snapped bitterly, taking a selfish moment sit up again and bury his head in his hands and just breathe as he tried to think.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” The offence was obvious in Yaz’s voice and he couldn’t help the smirk as he spoke through his fingers.

“Well, you’re no Clara Oswald that’s for sure.”

“And who’s that?” He let out a huff of what could have been amusement and lifted his head to fix them with a look.

“You don’t know the Doctor at all, do you?”

“We know her well enough.”

“Do you?” He pushed himself to his feet, “I mean, do you really? All those people you met back on Gallifrey, all those things you’d never heard of. All those secrets she keeps locked up.”

“The Doctor always keeps secrets.”

“Yeah, but not from her friends. I mean, no offence, but when it comes to companions of the Doctor, you’re all sort of useless.”

“We are not!”

“Please. Time was, companions of the Doctor would become goddesses of time, travel the whole of Earth on foot during apocalyptic timelines, save the universes by outthinking the Doctor. Instead, I’m stuck with you.” He scowled back at them, “The Doctor never carries weapons because she’s created a system much more useful than that. No, she takes in little puppy dog strays like yourselves, and over the coming weeks, and months, and years they’re normally moulded, shaped into something useful, deadly. They’re rottweilers, snarling at the ends of leashes ready to be unleashed on a universe of the Doctor’s enemies.” He looked them up and down with a roll of his eyes, “You lot are still pissing on the carpet. Who knows what went wrong there?” He motioned to them in a ‘see what I mean?’ kind of gesture and then turned finally to the console to begin sifting through the mountainous amounts of information stored in the TARDISs databanks. It appeared the Doctor never bothered with any spring cleaning when it came to her save files.

The three humans stood in a stunned silence for a moment, all just staring at the Master’s back. When they finally remembered to close their mouths again, Ryan spoke up, asking quietly,

“The Doctor’s friends have all really done all that? Humans?”

“Usually humans, yes.” The Master answered disinterestedly as he continued sifting through the masses of information in front of him. Yaz opened her mouth to say something, probably to argue back but Graham beat her to it. The older man’s voice filled with trepidation,

“What happened to them? The ones who walked the Earth on foot, and saved the universe, and became goddesses of time, whatever that means.” The Master answered without hesitation, cruelly.

“They died.” He felt a flash of satisfaction at the intakes of breath behind him. Turning back around to face them with a shrug, he continued, “You know that’s what humans do, don’t you? You decay and you die, and you do it all in what feels like the blink of an eye to beings like us.” His lips twisted up in another mocking grin, “The Doctor certainly knew that. She knew that that was exactly what was going to happen to all of you when she picked you up like forgotten toys. And she did it anyway.”

“That’s not true.” Yaz yelled at him, the only one with any proper fire in the group as the other two shared concerned glances between one another, “The Doctor has always done her best to protect us. And maybe sometimes she pushes us to be better, sure, but she’s always stopped us from going to far and getting hurt! Even when we didn’t listen to her. So, if some of the people who have travelled with her before have gotten hurt, it wasn’t her fault.” He just scoffed in amusement and shook his head slightly at the blind delusion and turned back to the console before letting out a heavy sigh. He quickly gave up on that venture though with a growl of frustration and crossed his arms as he turned to lean against the console, trying to think of something, anything that could help until finally, a thought occurred to him.

He reached into his pocket, digging around for a second in their transdimensional depths before he could find what he was looking for, and pulled out the journal he’d found when he’d found the mind wipe device back on Gallifrey. He began flicking through it, trying to find any kind of information that may be able to help him. This journal though, for the most part, just detailed the trials and errors of when they’d thought they were wiping this Not Doctor’s mind. There was nothing in there that could help him now. They didn’t even refer to her by name. Just ‘subject’. There was nothing personal in there, just a few references to dates or places that he didn’t recognise when they’d ask what the subject remembered in between the breaks. Even then it didn’t seem that they always got an answer.

“What’s that?” Yaz asked him and he sighed, closing the book with a snap in one hand.

“Instructions.”

“For wiping the Doctor’s mind?” He nodded, leaning against the edge of the console as his brain raced to try and come up with a plan going forward.

“Is it anything like the other one?” Ryan asked suddenly and The Master’s eyes shot to Ryan once he’d spoken, eyes wide and wild, making Ryan visibly falter for a moment in uneasiness.

“What do you mean?” He asked the human quickly.

“I mean, there was another journal thing. The past Doctor’s used it to turn off the machine you were using to jam their psychic signals to find our Doctor.”

“Where is it now? Was it left on Gallifrey?”

“No. I mean, I don’t think so. The last I saw it, the Doctor with the celery on his jacket had it.” At once the Master turned and started making his way further inside the TARDIS, knowing that the humans would all follow if they wanted to know what he was doing. He quickly found the wardrobe room, internally grateful for the TARDIS’ quick co-operation with him.

“The wardrobe isn’t usually here.” Yaz murmured as she stuck her head into the room, the surprise written on her face.

“The TARDIS can move things as she pleases. That means you should do everything to stay on her good side.” He answered her absently as he began searching through the levels of the wardrobe.

“What are you looking for?” He turned as he heard Yaz’s voice closer this time and found her and the other two stood watching him nearby. He went back to searching and heard her sigh heavily, “We can help, just tell us what you’re looking for.”

“The Doctor’s jacket, that one with the celery. If we’re lucky the notebook will still be there somewhere in the messy depths of the Doctor’s pockets. And if not that jacket, then maybe one of the others but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” The three immediately set to it, searching at other parts of the wardrobe for the jacket.

“Surely the Doctor, if he or she, still had the book, then they’d remember about what happened on Gallifrey? Or at least have that information there in the book?”

“No.” the Master shook his head, explaining as he continued thumbing through racks of clothing, “Time Lord brains work differently but even human ones might have trouble if the timelines needed to fix themselves. Anything that might jog the memory, that might get you interested, generally has something like a perception filter, meaning you tend to just overlook it. It’s still there, but the Doctor has so much random crap inside her pockets at any given time, any given body, that there’s very little risk of her paying much attention to a random little journal.”

“So, you think the Doctor wouldn’t have even taken it out of her pocket when she changed body?” Graham questioned and the Master could only shrug.

“Maybe. Fresh start, take only what you need.”

“Like the sonic?” Yaz asked.

“No, the Doctor stopped using the sonic for a good few centuries back then. If you ask me, she’s gotten a little too reliant on it recently.”

“Found it!” Ryan’s call from a floor up in the wardrobe caught all their attentions, and the Master was the first of them to make it to the stairs and head up them, reaching out to basically snatch the jacket out of the young man’s hands.

The Master reached into the jacket’s pockets, pulling out a large assortment of random objects. Including rubber ducks, long balls of string, tickets for a Hyperspace tennis match in the 58th century, a clothes hanger. He dumped all those objects onto the floor and let out a noise of frustration before turning the coat around so he could get to the inside pocket and reached in, almost up to his bicep before his fingers brushed against paper and he let out a soft noise of triumph and pulled it back out with him, having to fiddle slightly to get it through the comparatively smaller pocket gap. Almost immediately he flipped it open.

The journal was written in old high Gallifreyan but he could read it well enough and took his time making his way through the pages. He flipped through the parts detailing the creation of the Weeping Angels from prisoners and traitors on the planet, during the more radical design days of Rassilon. The days where he seemed to have gone mad with power. It took a while but eventually he found reference to this Not Doctor. It was strange though, because Rassilon referred to her as ‘the Doctor’. He wrote about how she’d returned after causing Omega’s death. About how she was interfering with his plans. About how she’d helped some of the sisters of the Pythia escape from his disillusion of their order. About the strange virus now racing its way through the Time Lord elite, one the man seemed certain ‘the Doctor’ was the cause of, and about Rassilon’s plans to combat it. He made mention to the mind wipe device that the Master had used, talking about Omega’s original plans for it but how Rassilon planned to use it now that he was gone.

The Master’s eyebrows drew together in confusion the further he read on. It wasn’t making much sense. Though this ‘Not Doctor’ had said that she’d been the Doctor once. She’d called herself the Doctor when the Doctor and she had met. Her insistence on not using the name confused him now. If that was who she was then why not just own up to it?

“What does it say then?” Graham asked once the Master finally seemed to stop his frantic reading as he came to the end of the journal.

“Nothing useful. Just takes about this pre Doctor and how she went out of her way to mess up Rassilon’s plans.”

“Rassilon? That was one of the founders of Gallifrey.” The Master’s eyes darted up to the human in surprise over his recognising the name, especially given how little the Doctor tended to tell them anything. Graham saw the look and shrugged slightly, “one of the other Doctor’s mentioned him whilst we were down those underground tunnels.”

“Yes, it’s his journal. There’s more mentions of the Doctor.”

“Or whoever this is.” Yaz cut in and he was quick to shake his head.

“No, he makes specific reference to ‘the Doctor’. Talks about how they undermine his attempt to wipe out the Pythia. About a virus that’s released that starts killing off Time Lords, about their involvement in Omega’s death. Lots of things, nothing altogether useful for us right now.”

“But she said her name wasn’t the Doctor.”

“I think it might have been, before. Providing this isn’t even actually the Doctor.”

“It’s not. No way that’s the Doctor, no way the Doctor would kill someone like that.”

“Really?” he paused, raising an eyebrow at that sentence but was quick to continue with a shake of his head, “But there is a past version of the Doctor. Like she said, they shared the same body. Perhaps it was just the memories being held back, now that they’re free, she’s just more this previous version than the Doctor we know.”

“She knew who we were…”

“Well, all the Doctor’s memories are still in there. Anyway, you met this previous version before.”

“We have?” Yaz asked, all three of them looking confused.

“She turned herself human, was living on Earth with her little companion at the time, hiding from the Time Lords.”

“Still means nothing to us.” Graham shrugged and the Master resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose, frustration over the Doctor’s insistence at leaving her companions in the dark this time around making him rage more internally.

“Called herself Ruth.” It still took them all a moment but one by one they all realised who he was talking about and again they looked surprised and then frustrated.

“Did the Doctor know who she was?” Yaz asked, the barely held back anger audible in her voice.

“She knew she was the Doctor; she didn’t know who she was. That was the first time she really had any sort of clue, other than my hints.”

“Ruth was the Doctor?”

“Ruth was this previous version. The one in charge of the Doctor’s body now.”

“What about Lee? And what do you mean she turned herself human? Is that something Time Lords can do?” Graham sounded mildly horrified; the Master just shrugged.

“Who’s Lee? And yes, just need a Chameleon Arch. And something to store your Time Lord consciousness inside. I’ve done it, the Doctor’s done it. It’s not pleasant. You don’t remember anything about your past until you get your consciousness back, starts the other heart again.”

“Lee, the bloke with her at the time. Her husband. I think the Judoon got him.”

“Husband?” the Master shrugged, “probably just the pet she had at that point.” They all fixed him with looks but he simply ignored them, “We need someone who might know who she was, and that one’s dead.” He frowned and flipped the book back open, flicking through the pages until he stopped on the section about Rassilon’s dealing with the Pythia and the Doctor’s interference. An idea occurred to him and he quickly turned back to the TARDIS console, speaking up to the centre column, “well, how’d you fancy a trip to Karn? I imagine it was you who helped her smuggle the sisterhood there in the first place.”

The TARDIS let out a quick groaning noise of agreement and the Master smirked, brushing passed the humans to begin inputting commands and setting course for the home world of the Sisterhood who’d been guarding the Sacred Flame since supposedly the beginning of time. Or at least now he knew, from the beginning of Rassilon’s reign.


	5. Chapter 5

“What’s Karn?” Graham asked once the shaking of the TARDIS came to a stop.

“Sister planet to Gallifrey. And, more importantly, home to the Sisterhood.” The Master informed them quickly, already making his way towards the doors.

“And what’s the Sisterhood?”

“They were formerly the Pythia on Gallifrey at one point. Way back when. I’m hoping that maybe, just maybe, they might know something about this other Doctor.” He stepped out the doors, the humans scrambling to follow. Like always, at least it seemed that way, Ohila, the head matron of the Sisterhood, was stood with a torch in hand waiting.

“You have a lot of nerve showing up here.” She informed him sternly, eyebrow raising slightly at the sight of him next to the Doctor’s TARDIS with a collection of humans who he assumed she could put two and two together to figure out weren’t _his_ friends.

“Yes, well, I wouldn’t come here if it wasn’t an emergency.”

“Might I enquire as to why you have that TARDIS in your possession? And you don’t normally take companionship from humans. Might I assume the Doctor is to follow?”

“Which one?” Ohila turned, eyebrow raised in surprise at his question.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“No, well, I know the one that you think I’m talking about. What about the other one you know, who was yours?” It seemed to click for her, and he watched Ohila’s face turn pale.

“She’s back?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“He fucked up big time.” Yaz answered before he could open his mouth and he scowled at her in response.

“I wiped the Doctor’s mind and _accidently_ released this old Doctor whilst doing so. Now she’s trying very hard to kill me.”

“And why would you come here?” She sounded worried, even took a step back and the Master stepped forward with an intrigued tilt of his head.

“Seems like you know her better than I do. I came for information on her. For a way to defeat her.”

“You don’t. They barely managed it last time. The Time Lords were almost wiped out.”

“Yes well, now they’re gone.”

“And yet you would’ve needed all the help you could get against this Doctor. You’ll only have yourself to blame. You need to leave.” His face fell, the humans behind him all doing the same.

“What?”

“You’ll bring her here just by being here. I won’t put my sisters in danger for your foolishness.”

“Please.” The Master stepped forward, grabbing her arm before she could walk away and she whirled back to him, the lit flame flying very close to his face as she did. “I need help.” He leaned in closer, lowering his voice because what he was about to say next he really didn’t want the humans to hear, even if he knew they probably already knew it, “I have no clue what to do next. I need to know something about her, anything. Gallifrey is gone. I might have killed the Time Lords but she wiped the planet out of the sky. I have no way of gaining any kind of information about her from any other source than you. I have no clue how to get my version of the Doctor back.” Ohila went silent, her eyes searching over his face as she clearly fought some kind of internal battle within herself before her shoulders wilted and she relented.

“Fine.” Her eyes trailed passed him to the three humans still standing in front of the TARDIS and her gaze hardened, “they stay here. I would rather no more blood spills than is necessary if she does arrive.” He nodded and turned to the Fam.

“Wait inside the TARDIS.” He ordered them with a hard look as Ohila turned, gathering herself to lead him inside.

“Are you kidding?” Graham asked, clearly agitated.

“We’re not waiting here!” Yaz argued back with him, doing that thing where she crossed her arms and tried to look tougher than she was. The Master pointed to Ohila with a shrug.

“Wasn’t my order.” He smirked at them next, “stay in the TARDIS like good little dogs. I thought you would have been used to this by now.” They were seething in anger as he followed Ohila inside and that moment of amusement for him didn’t last long as he left it for the heavy atmosphere that followed. The Sisters that they passed seemed to already know what he was here for. All of them ducking out of their way, lowering their gaze as they all disappeared further into the shadows. The Sisterhood were known for their psychic gifts that far outstretched even the Time Lords’ ones, telepathy amongst them was almost a certainty.

><><

“I can’t believe him. If he thinks we’re just gonna sit here while he gets himself killed and we lose our only chance to get the Doctor back, then he’s got another thing coming.” Yaz seethed as she paced back and forth at the doors, “We should just go back out there, follow them in. It’s what the Doctor would have done.”

“Bit late now.” Graham snorted in mock amusement, “Besides, what if this other Doctor rocks up whilst we’re in there, eh? We’re stuck here with no TARDIS.”

“Don’t justify him.”

“The Sisterhood said they didn’t want us in there either.” Ryan pointed out, infuriatingly calm for Yaz’s liking.

“How are you both so calm?” She asked them both, her voice raising an octave at the end.

“Because getting worked up ain’t gonna help anyone. He’s a prick, plain as. You know that, I know that. The whole universe knows that. He’s doing his damndest to wind us up. You’re better not letting him. Or, at least not letting it show. We don’t hold most of the cards here, he does. He messed up but doesn’t fully want to admit it, or at least, take on the guilt necessary for that because I don’t think he feels guilty. I think he just wants to save his own neck.” Graham shrugged and Yaz let out another noise of frustration before relenting as the older man’s words made sense to her.

“What are we supposed to do Graham? We’re not gods of time or smarter than the Doctor.”

“Well, neither were those people at first either.” He pointed out, reminding her of what the Master said, “and we haven’t exactly had an easy version of the Doctor to work with, so we’ve seen. We do alright though. In fact, I’d rather we didn’t have to go walk the Earth thank you very much. Not sure my old back could take it.” The three shared a small smile at that joke and Yaz sighed heavily, dropping to sit on the steps leading further into the TARDIS.

“I just wish we had someone else here who could handle things. Or at least someone here with us who would make sure that the Master doesn’t just use us as bait to save his own skin.”

“I second that.” Ryan hummed in agreement, leaning back against one of the coral pillars with his head tilted back as he crossed his arms.

A sudden ringing noise filled the air. They all looked around, glancing to each other to see if it was one of their phones but quick glances told them that it wasn’t any of them. Yaz was on her feet first and immediately trying to suss out the source of the ringing. She ducked down next to the console, jumping as a drawer pushed itself out and, after a moment of hesitation, she reached down into it and pulled out the Doctor’s phone.

They all frowned in matching confusion as they looked down at it. Rather than a name, the screen simply showed the tongue out heart eyes emoji as someone called. Yaz slid the arrow along on the screen and lifted the phone to her ear, eyebrows furrowed.

“Hello?”

><><

“Who is she?” The Master asked when Ohila finally stopped after leading him through a maze of tunnels until he was sure they were far below the planet itself. The room they’d entered in to looked more personal than any of the rooms of worship or for company. More private. But still had a few tables and chairs and desks strewn about. The Sisterhood’s banners still hung on each of the walls, but they looked older, and the dust in the room told him it hadn’t been used in a long while. Ohila motioned for him to sit and he did so, slowly, hesitantly, keeping his eyes on her at all times.

“When she was a child, we didn’t know her. We remember hearing the stories of a child who could change their face in the lower city, but the Sisterhood was kept to the inner city and followed their instructions through the Great Mother. We didn’t meet officially until the Time Lords had been started, along with the academy. At the time she was a quiet boy, standing warily off the side. If we had known what Tecteun was doing to her, we would have stepped in sooner. By the time we found out, she was already grown, and the experiments had stopped.”

“Experiments? The ones that gave Time Lords the ability to regenerate?” Ohila nodded slowly.

“The things that she did to that child.” Ohila murmured quietly, her voice betraying the horror over what she knew, “If we had known we would have stepped in. As it turns out our only interactions with them ensured that the sisterhood survived at all.”

“What do you mean?”

“After she disappeared the first time, during the wars, Rassilon returned claiming she attacked him and his close guard and ran. Only she returned some years later, with a human in tow and tried to approach the council about Rassilon and Omega’s betrayal with the Yssegaroth. They would not believe her, and she was wheeled off to the academy before the sisterhood could step in. We assisted her companion in rescuing her, kept the man safe from Rassilon. In doing so the Doctor saved us from Rassilon’s destruction of the Pythia. The Sisterhood of Karn would not be here today if she had not saved us.”

“So, she’s a hero?”

“No. No, the things she’s done. Some might call them justified. _You_ would call them justified. But anyone else never would. She almost wiped the Time Lords from existence, released a virus amongst them using her own DNA. She nearly killed all of them. We heard that nearly 80% were dead before Rassilon was finally able to open a rip into the Vortex to stabilise them all.”

“The Untempered Schism?” She nodded.

“Part of the Time Lords initiation was in remembrance, the other in fear that perhaps there may be a relapse if it wasn’t performed. They were still scared, even after all this time. The Other had been purposefully forgotten, the things Tecteun did would paint the Time Lords in a horrifying light. And to remember one is to remember the other. Both had to be wiped from Gallifreyan history in order to keep the truth of Time Lord history a secret.”

“You knew though, you never said anything.”

“The Sisterhood lived in terror on Karn of being found for millennia. When Rassilon finally found out where we were it was too late to do anything to us without repercussion. And we proved ourselves useful when assisting with the destruction of Morbius. He allowed us to live on.” The distain in her voice couldn’t be missed and the Master leaned back in his chair. The TCE in his hands turning so he could tap it gently against the table as he thought through the information he’d been given.

“And the Division? What is it?” Ohila looked confused now, eyebrows drawing together.

“I’ve never heard of anything with that name. But there was much the Time Lords kept to themselves in the old days, even when they should have been sharing it as they still were under the rulership of the Pythia at the time. Perhaps it was one of those secrets?” The Master couldn’t help his frustrated noise as he sat up. He had no other sources that he knew of who might know what the Division was.

“So, did you know about what they did to stop her?”

“Trying to delete her mind is what we assumed. They’d attempted once before. When she’d returned the first time after running from the war. Her companion saved her, and they ran once more together. The next time she returned she was alone, and her rage was unquenchable. It ran through her veins like ice.”

“It hasn’t stopped. Rassilon’s dead, and the rest of the High Council.” Ohila’s eyes widened and she swallowed nervously but turned to him and motioned for him to get to his feet and he did so with a raised eyebrow.

“If she’s back then she will not stop until you’re dead. We may even be next, originating from Gallifrey as we do.”

“How do I stop her? A whole army of Cybermen and a crucible of Daleks were nothing for her.”

“You have to be smart. Death might not be the answer. I don’t know much but-”

“Don’t. You. Dare.” A voice rang out, the order clear in her tone and Ohila stopped mid-step and ducked her head, about a second away from baring her throat in submission from what the Master could see. The head priestess looked more terrified than he’d ever seen her. The Not Doctor gave a flippant motion of her hand for Ohila to move back and she did as she was told without hesitation. The Master stared after her in betrayal but she never even cast him a glance, too busy keeping her eyes fixed on the other woman in the room, like one watched a hungry tiger as it paced around in front of you.

“I’m sorry. I told them to go.” Ohila’s words had none of the bite that the Master had always heard from her. She’d never been a woman made to yield to anyone, not even Rassilon. He’d heard the stories of the Sisterhood clashing with anyone they came into contact with. It spoke volumes how careful the woman was being here.

“I told you the last time I saw you that your debt was repaid. We owe each other nothing now. If you leave now, I’ll let you live out of the kindness of my heart.” Ohila said nothing more. She simply ducked her head and backed her way out of the room and left the Master to his fate. He was beginning to panic but tried his hardest not to let it show. He prayed internally for the Doctor’s pets to actually be useful for once, to be there to help him escape when he finally made his attempt to run. The Not Doctor’s attention turned to him, anger and annoyance clear on her face, “Sit.” She ordered him harshly, pointing to the table that he’d sat at when speaking to Ohila. He hesitated for a moment, pondering if he was fast enough to get passed her but, as she fixed him with a crazed expression, he chose to slowly sink down into the wooden chair with it pulled out so he could face her, sitting one hand on the table, his TCE in his palm. His other he kept as subtly as possible in close to his pocket, both hands near a weapon, as he watched her pace. “You took my ship.” She said, her figure finally coming to a stop.

“She let me.” He caught sight of the betrayal that flickered across her face at his words. It was only there for a second, but he spotted it and his eyebrow raised, “You weren’t expecting that, were you?”

“Shut up.”

“I assume you raised her. Grew her up until she was yours completely. Bonded, heart and soul. And now she chooses this new Doctor over you. Must sting a little.”

“I said shut up.” Her voice went low, the warning evident but he was curious beneath his fear, wanting to know if she would snap in any other way than just killing him.

“Well, why would she? You’ve been gone so long, she moved on. Picked up someone else. Just someone else who didn’t end up wanting you either, Doctor.”

 _Too far_. That was too far.

“I said _shut_ up! Don’t call me that. _Never_ call me that!’ She’d stalked towards him, murderous intent in her eyes. In a split second the dagger he always carried on his person, the one he’d reached for the second she got closer, was in her hand. And in another second, it was _in_ his hand. He let out a yelp of pain, the dagger protruding straight through his palm and was jammed into the table so hard it was stuck, and it wasn’t coming out without considerable effort. Blood poured from the wound, pooling across the table and his free hand came up, shaking through the shock and pain of her actions, hovering above the handle of the blade. He was hesitant to pull it out, but it hurt to leave it where it was. In the distraction she simply picked his TCE up from the table and inspected it, walking away with a simple tug of her coat. “I am not the Doctor. I finally came up with that name. Would you like to hear it?” She leaned in close, uncaring of whether he did want to or not and her lips peeled back in a wide grin, “I quite like Valeyard.”

He paled. Not just from the blood loss but from the realisation of what exactly he’d done to the Doctor hitting him like a ton of bricks. He’d admitted before that the Valeyard scared him. A Doctor without the morals and now he’d just released that into the universe. He could almost laugh at the reality in which he found himself in. The Valeyard had always terrified him. The prospect of facing down the Doctor without any of the compassion that they always had to slow them down. Every twisted and dark thought, every horrifying impulse the Doctor’d ever felt, all wrapped up in one little 5ft 7 blonde and with none of the moral compass that normally guided the Doctor’s every move.

He was fucked.

“Valeyard?” He asked weakly and she nodded, “I… I imagine you saw that name in the Doctor’s memories?” He watched her eyebrows furrow in confusion and then watched her eyes go slightly out of focus as she clearly tried to go through the Doctor’s memories in search of the figure. He realised quickly that they’d be blocked off to her, if they were indeed her future. Which… didn’t fare well for him. “The Division” he started quickly, eyeing down the weapon she still had in her hand as she started to get closer to him again only to freeze as he spoke, “what is it?” He watched her eye twitch and was quick to try and placate her, “It’s just, you’re going to kill me anyway, at least tell me what it is. I haven’t been able to find _anything_ on it.”

“Why would you want to know about that?” She seemed genuinely perturbed.

“Curiosity.”

“You know what they say about curiosity and the cat.” She raised an eyebrow and he just rolled his eyes.

“Already about to be killed?” he reminded her again and she let out a heavy sigh of annoyance and moved over to the one of the desks further across the room that was near the only exit, his TCE still in her hand. Once she moved away he finally took the moment to pull the knife from his hand, desperately trying to muffle his cry of pain with a laugh, before he dumped the knife onto the table and reached into his pockets until he could find a silk handkerchief that he could wrap around the wound. She waited until he was finished before she spoke.

“I suppose you could call it something like an outreach programme. At first, at least. Searching out new life across the universe, using these new methods of transport, these new ships to go anywhere. To scour the universe to find other civilisations that might be as advanced as the Time Lords were. We never really found any. At least none that any of the others considered advanced.”

“Time Lords, always a pompous lot.”

“At least you admit it.” She rolled her eyes.

“And what about you?”

“What about me?”

“What did you think of it all?” Her gaze immediately hardened, her person turning defensive over his merely asking.

“What I thought doesn’t matter. So, have I answered your question?”

“No. You said, ‘at first’. And an outreach programme doesn’t quite explain all the secrecy. Why wipe it from all records.” She took a heavy sounding breath and clearly thought about just shooting him for a moment, juggling his TCE between her two hands before sighing and lowering it to the desk next to her.

“Then they started to become more…. Territorial. We were sent out on espionage. Sabotage. Destruction and at times isolation and assassination. Anything that was needed, anything that might help the Time Lords advance. That was my job. That was my Division.” As she spoke, her voice started to get tighter and her gaze started to go distant.

“What did they do to you?” He asked quietly and at once her gaze was back on him, as sharp as anything and her eyes narrowed.

“What?”

“At the end, wiping your memory. Why? What was the point in that?”

“Told you, they couldn’t kill me.” She said sternly.

“No but, there must be a way. Regeneration, someone can still be killed mid-way through. Or lock you up.”

“I locked myself up.” She paused, jaw clenching for a moment, “You don’t know how it felt, with someone there. Someone with my name, with my body, my life. Living it the way I always wanted to. And I could do nothing. Locked away at the bottom of my subconscious.”

“Until me.” She let out a soft hum of what seemed to be amusement at his words and nodded.

“Until you.” She agreed easily and then turned to him. Her eyes looking him over as her head quirked slightly in question, “you still wonder if I’m really her, don’t you?”

“Sometimes.” He admitted with a nervous swallow, “not as much now.”

“Well, I’m not. I’m my own person. The Doctor has had her own victories in life, more than even I can count, and I have them lined up in my head.” She stood once more, knocking a finger against her temple before her jaw clenched in determination, “I refuse to let mine be taken from me and gifted to someone who had no part in them. I refuse to give her this one as well.” She stalked towards him, reaching for the blade still sitting on the table. Her free hand fisted into his hair once she reached him and she pulled his head back, forcing him to reveal the long slope of his neck to her. Not giving him a chance to run. “This victory is mine. This ends here. You said something to her, just recently, you said ‘ _A whole species stemming from the DNA of the Doctor. They should have all been culled from the start._ ’ I agree. Only it wasn’t the Doctor, not your Doctor anyway, that that DNA came from. It was from me. It was _stolen_ from _me_.”

“Please,” the Master reached up a hand towards her, ready to try and stop her if she got too close, desperation clear in his voice as he begged, “please don’t do this. Please, I’m sorry.” She simply took no notice of his struggles as she pressed the tip of the blade against his throat, keeping it still as she finished speaking.

“I’m sorry.” She told him, sounding truthful in her apologies. Sounding something close to heartbroken, “I’m so sorry, you never should have existed in the first place. Any of you. It would have saved you all so much pain.”


	6. Chapter 6

The blaster shot rang out, not hitting anyone, but it definitely made the Valeyard jump as her attention turned to try and find the person holding the weapon. The knife was moved further away from his throat and the Master used the distraction in order to push her arm further away and scramble out of the chair. All but sliding down the chair onto the floor before rolling to his feet, in a most undignified manner, so he could dart towards the entryway to the room. The woman who’d fired the blaster slowly lowered it, squaring her shoulders as she now had the full attention of the room. She shook her head, throwing back her blonde curls as her eyes fixed on the Valeyard, something hard and angry and heartbroken within them.

“Hello Sweetie.” The Master saw River Song’s eyes dart to him, saw her motion her head for him to get behind her and he tried not to let his relief overcome his face. Having to get saved by the Doctor’s wife wasn’t at the top of his list of his most self-respectful moments. He was entirely confused as to how and why she was here, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. She’d just saved his life.

“River?” The Valeyard had only gone quiet for a moment, that name clearly skirting nearer the top of the Doctor’s memories. “What are you doing here?”

“Just thought I’d pop on by, visit my wife. Though then I find her about to slit her oldest friend’s throat with her own hands. That’s not you at all.” Her tone alone told the Master she at least understood they weren’t dealing with the actual Doctor.

“Friend? You saw everything he did. He’s hardly a friend.” The Valeyard rolled her eyes and River’s eyebrow raised.

“Maybe. But the Doctor would never resort to such actions.”

“River-”

“I on the other hand, certainly would.” She raised her weapon quickly and fired. The Valeyard’s figure was shrouded in a quick blue light before she slumped to the floor. He looked between them, shocked. “It’s set to stun. Now we run.” She gave his arm a tug and the two of them turned out of the room. “You’re an idiot.” She growled out to him as they ran, bolting through the now abandoned hallways of the Sisterhood’s temple, back up towards the planet’s surface.

“I know.” He grumbled back, not finding it in him to cause an argument right this second.

“No. Really an idiot. Really and truly a complete and utter moron.” The two of them almost tumbled making a sharp turn and they both urged the other on faster as the sound of the Valeyard’s enraged screech came from somewhere further behind them.

They made it to the planet’s surface, the TARDIS standing ready for them. River already having her key in hand to get the doors open. The two of them burst in through the door and passed the Fam who all leaped up to their feet at the sight of them. They rushed to the console and worked together to get the ship moving.

“What have you done to my wife?” River asked him once they were within the relative safety of the vortex, turning on him with a fury that made Yaz’s appropriately look like a puppy dog’s. Graham and Ryan would probably have whiplash from how quickly their heads whipped around at that question, clearly not having known the Doctor was married. The Master actually cringed back, knowing from past experiences with River Song that she wouldn’t hesitate to deck him, or do something much worse, if he tried his usual games. He also noticed that the humans around him didn’t seem all together surprised to see River there, so he could only assume that they must have been the ones to contact her somehow.

“It’s the Valeyard.” He wondered how much the Doctor had shared over the years with her wife. Each time in the past he’d always been surprised when mentioning something that was usually kept a secret from companions, only to find River already knew what he was talking about in some detail.

The punch to the face that laid him out next told him that she did indeed know what the Valeyard was and she very much understood the implications of such a person existing. It didn’t surprise him when the humans around them did nothing to assist him and instead all just crossed their arms, as though waiting for another punch to come. Graham glanced away, clearly not comfortable with it but Yaz looked like she wanted to suggest River definitely tried again.

“I’ve never met a bigger moron in my whole life and I married the Doctor.” She growled out to him and he tried to push himself to his feet with a heavy sigh, wincing with a sharp hiss of pain when he forgot about his injured hand in doing so. He dropped back onto his side, clutching his hand with his other for a moment.

“You alright?” Graham’s anger dropped the fastest, the older man crouching down as if to help him but the Master quickly pushed himself to his feet with his good hand and pulled the handkerchief away from his injury and used some latent regeneration energy in order to heal himself. He ended up gritting his teeth in pain at the feeling of his bones, muscles and skin knitting themselves back together. River had scowled and turned back to the console, but the Fam were all staring at his hand in wonder. He paid them no mind as he too moved to the console once again.

“So, what’s the plan?” River asked, looking up when he didn’t automatically respond. His silence and refusal to answer spoke volumes and she sighed tiredly. “Okay, so we come up with a plan. What do we know?”

“Her DNA gave Time Lords the ability to regenerate.” The Master continued, “her adopted mother, who found her back then, was the Other. She experimented on her. Her torture was the foundation that the entire Time Lord race were built on and now she wants to kill them all. Meaning, me, cause I’m all that’s left.” He could visibly see her being about to call him an idiot again and he quickly waved her off and continued, “She came before and now she wants me dead.”

“Do we know if the Doctor’s still in there?”

“No clue. She hasn’t managed to make any appearances yet, and the Valeyard has access to all her memories. But we didn’t know the Valeyard was in there for 3000 odd years, maybe the Doctor’s now the one who’s trapped.”

“That’s what we hope.” Yaz spoke up, looking to River, “Do you think there’s anything that can be done?”

“We… We just hope that the Doctor’s still in there and we get her back in charge, preferably getting the Valeyard out in the process.” River didn’t sound as certain as they wanted her to, all of the other humans sharing concerned glances with one another.

“But who _is_ the Valeyard? You never actually said.” Graham asked, frowning in confused annoyance, “Both of you seem to know who this is now, but you haven’t mentioned _how_ you know her.”

“The Valeyard was meant to be a future incarnation of the Doctor. One born out of the Doctor’s hatred and rage and everything dark and twisted that ever passed through their head. They were always going back to attack former versions of the themself though, attempting to take over their body for their remaining regener…” it was like a lightbulb turned on in the Master’s brain as realisation hit him, “oh…” All of them, including River this time, looked to him, impatient to hear what it was that he’d realised. He reached into his pocket to pull out the initial journal he’d found on Gallifrey, frantically flicking through pages until he found what he was looking for. There were a few pages, near the middle of the journal, initial ideas that had been put down onto paper about what could be done to stop the Valeyard.

“What is it?” River asked finally, shuffling in to his side so she could see what it was he was looking at. It took her only a minute or two to read through both pages and her eyes lit up, “Oh. Oh, that’s brilliant.”

“Omega’s mind was unmatchable. Problem is with this, is that even he gave up part way through, seemed to think it wasn’t feasible considering they would have nothing to do with the empty body at the end. But, I think this technology is what was eventually used when Time Lords started locking subconsciousness’s away in the biodata modules.”

“What’s a biodata module?” Yaz interrupted, “and what are you both talking about? Have you figured out a way to get the Doctor back?”

“Maybe.” River answered her, clearly not wanting to give them too much hope because this would be a shot in the dark if it actually worked.

“Well, what is it?” Graham insisted again.

“Time Lords didn’t do prison the way that humans do. Well, kind of. They wouldn’t lock up the body, they’d separate a Time Lord consciousness from their body and lock that away. We have these. Hang on.” He reached deep into one of his pockets, having to actually search for a minute or two until he could pull out the small fob watch covered in Gallifreyan script, “This little thing can hold an entire Time Lord mind.”

“Just looks like a regular fob watch.” Graham reached for it first, turning it over in his hands for a few seconds, even opening it up and inspecting the face of the clock which had a few dints in it, showing it’s age and how often it had been tossed about.

“A lot of things look like regular things until they’re put to their intended use. Anyway, this” He turned the journal around so they could see the pages worth of data scrawled out. Not that they’d understand any of it, being written in old high Gallifreyan as it was, but the diagrams made it somewhat obvious, at least to he and River, “is what I think the basis of this technology is. It was first thought of as a way to get rid of the Valeyard, to separate a Time Lord from their body.”

“But she keeps insisting she’s not a Time Lord. You say that she’s not a Time Lord.” Ryan pointed out.

“The Doctor _is_ a Time Lord.” Yaz pointed out harshly.

“But we don’t know for certain anymore.” River responded quickly, clearly pained to even say it.

“But every person she’s ever met, everywhere she’s ever gone, they’ve all called her a Time Lord. When she got medical scans done, they say ‘Time Lord’. How could it turn out now that she’s not? She’s got both hearts.” Yaz tried once again to argue her point.

“True. But even if not, hopefully the Valeyard’s biology is close enough that this could still work.” The Master just half ignored her words and continued to pour over the journal as he began trying to put together a plan.

“So, what? You’re gonna try and lock her in a stop watch?” Ryan asked, plucking the small clock out of Graham’s hand to look it over. Yaz just turned away for a moment in clear frustration over her words not being taken seriously.

“No. Well, probably not. We’ll have to figure out something else, but it’s the same sort of idea. We basically split them apart. Leaving the Doctor in her own body and… well, we do something with the Valeyard.”

“It leaves the Valeyard wanting her original body. And its remaining regenerations” River nodded in agreement.

“And, since this Doctor now knows what she will be attempting, where better to try than with versions of the Doctor who don’t know yet what’s gone on?”

“So, you just plan on letting her run free after this?” Yaz asked, eyes wide, surprised.

“Not planning on it, but it will certainly keep her distracted till we can figure out a plan beyond that. Having the Doctor here will probably help. She’ll remember all her prior run ins with the Valeyard and we proceed from there.”

“And how do we build this? How do we trap her?” Graham asked.

“It’ll be based off of this kind of Time Lord technology I assume. But it’ll have to be built. Or we could go to Gallifrey, use it there or bring it somewhere else?” River stated.

“Gallifrey’s gone.” The Master interrupted.

“I know that, but the devices should still be there.” She threw him a dirty look and he sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose for a few moments.

“No, it’s gone. In pieces.”

“What did you do?” River’s words came out low, slow. A warning clear near the surface. Her facial expression horrified, and he scoffed, now offended.

“I did nothing. The Valeyard did that. I wouldn’t have blown it up myself. It was useful in the long run.”

“We use Earth.” Yaz broke the silence that followed, her voice firm. When they all looked to her, confused, she continued, “You can build whatever you need, right? We can use UNIT’s archives for whatever we need. They’ll want the Valeyard gone, especially after what she did to Kate.”

“What did she do to Kate?” River asked. The Master didn’t hesitate to answer, rushing the answer out before addressing Yaz again.

“Killed her. Are you sure? She might end up destroying the Earth?”

“It’s home turf, gives us the advantage, right?”

“She knows the Earth as well as the Doctor knows the Earth.”

“Then it’s more of a level playing field.” She seemed adamant on this and the Master raised an eyebrow and glanced between the others, waiting for any arguments.

“Earth it is then.” River said after none were raised, “we’ll make a start whilst still in the TARDIS. The less time we have to spent out of this ship right now, the better.”


	7. Chapter 7

River took the lead stepping out of the TARDIS once they’d landed. She searched around the empty archive room but found no one. The others followed out behind her, the Master pulling up the rear and looking the most nervous about coming outside the safety that the TARDIS provided. They been in the Vortex for a long while, getting as much of the work done on the Biodata Module and consciousness transporter as they could within the TARDIS. Now they just had to hope they’d be able to finish now they were on Earth once more.

It didn’t take long for the sound of pounding footsteps to be heard heading towards them. The shouting of soldiers and the distinct click of safety being turned off of guns and the room around them was swarmed by UNIT soldiers. The group out of the TARDIS all put their hands up immediately, the Master with more of an eyeroll and huff of annoyance over how much time this was going to waste for them. One of the Petronella Osgood’s stepped into the room, hands in the pockets of her jacket and a hard look in her eye. She walked through the many men with guns until she was stood in front of the group.

“What are you doing back here?”

“We need help, it’s to do with the Doctor.” River spoke first. The Master opting to keep his mouth shut because he at least trusted her to get their point across. They would trust her.

“The Doctor killed Kate.” Osgood’s outrage and grief was clear and most of the group winced at the sound of it. Everyone except the Master, that is.

“It wasn’t the Doctor though.” Yaz was quick to tell her, “Not really. It’s the Doctor’s body but she’s not the one in the driving seat right now.” At the woman’s confusion Yaz’s face scrunched up sympathetically, “Sorry, it’s a long story. But it wasn’t the Doctor, you know the Doctor and she _never would_.” At the face the Master made at those words he was rewarded a sharp jab to his ribs by River’s elbow and he barely hid his noise of pained discomfort, one of his hands dropping so he could clutch his side for a second.

“If it’s not the Doctor, then who is it?”

“She’s called the Valeyard.” The Master finally spoke up, “and she’d been inside the Doctor’s head for a very long time. I accidentally set her free. So, she’s very old and very angry and isn’t hesitating to kill anyone who gets in her way.”

“Who gets in her way of killing you?” Osgood was very blunt. The Master just shrugged and nodded. “You killed another me before. Tell me why I shouldn’t just leave you to her.”

“Because we need the Doctor back. And as long as he’s alive we know where she’s going to be. If he dies then we lose any idea of where she’s going to be and the universe is put in more danger than ever.” River spoke again and Osgood gave them a look, the grief still evident on her face but eventually she relented and nodded, pointing to her, looking at the Master.

“I’m only saying yes because she’s here. Know that.”

“Then I’ll count us as lucky.” The Master just replied sarcastically and finally lowered his arms. Osgood motioned for the soldiers to be at ease and at once the weapons were all lowered to point down to the ground rather than at them.

“How are you going to get the Doctor back?” Osgood asked as most of the soldiers started making their way out of the room again. A few stayed behind, a security detail remaining to no doubt keep Osgood safe.

“We have a plan. We need some things though; you wouldn’t happen to still have that Vinvocci glass, would you? I have an idea that’ll need it.” 

><><><

They’d had help from UNIT in clearing out what they could within the Black Archive room, giving them the room they needed to work with. The Vinvocci glass cases had been brought to them and placed in two corners of the room for them, and he and River were working on hooking them up, one of them at each. The Fam were all watching from various points in the room. They’d all asked if there was anything they could do to help, but the Master and River had both made it clear that what they were doing required total precision, so they’d just stood back and watched.

“So, what exactly is it that you’re planning to do?” Yaz asked finally, looking between River and the Master as she waited for who was going to explain first.

“Back on Gallifrey, if you were considered dangerous enough, or if you’d done something bad enough, you’d be locked away. Or, if need be, your consciousness could be transferred over into another body.”

“What’s the plan this time?” Ryan asked, “are we using that fob watch?”

“No, well, if we had the Doctor’s I would have, but this one’s mine.” The Master tucked his fob watch back into his pocket with a sigh, “Unfortunately the Doctor handed his off to a small child as some kind of good luck charm, so we’ve had to improvise.”

“Improvise how?” Graham questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“That thing there,” River pointed up to the device that she was currently installing to the top of the glass case she was inside of, “is a similar technology to a teleport. And teleports work kind of like a computer with a save file. As long as we have a scan of the Doctor’s body and her DNA then we can use this to create a copy when it’s needed.”

“You’re gonna make a clone of the Doctor?”

“We’re going to try, and we’ll put the Valeyard in that. We’ll decide what to do with her afterwards. Vinvocci glass is unbreakable.” The Master finished off with a tense sigh, “We just have to finish this before she gets here.”

“And do we have a scan of the Doctor?” Yaz asked.

“That’s where you three come in.” River turned to them again.

“What we need all of you to do,” the Master stretched over to a table to his left and picked up a small square looking device that had a long stem attached to it, like an old timey walkie talkie or radio. It was one of three. He held it out to them, and Graham took hold of that one, turning it over in his hands a few times, “is be somewhere off to the side with these. They will do an in-depth scan down to a molecular level for the species of origin, and let us know how likely this is to work and how we need to adjust it accordingly. Providing we have time. The more devices the more quickly it can finish.”

“We used something like this before.” Yaz said as she stepped forward, “Back with Daniel Barton.”

“And what will you be doing?” Ryan asked, reaching to pick up his own one of the devices whilst tossing the other to Yaz who caught it. He looked to the Master as the other man grimaced unhappily.

“Keeping her talking. Hopefully.”

“How do we know whatever you’re gonna do won’t just kill her?” The Master raised an eyebrow at Yaz and slowly just pointed to River who glanced up from what she was working on with a smirk.

“As much as I would love to do just that…” The Master shrugged and River carried on quickly.

“I’m here. He wouldn’t dare.”

“Are you scared of her?” Yaz asked him, a taunting little smirk on her face and he practically growled out his next words.

“Of course not.”

“Of course he is.” River butt in, her smirk still on her face as she just looked back to what she was doing, “But everyone is, so that’s nothing special.”

“Even the Doctor?” Yaz asked with a raised eyebrow. River’s smirk grew into a full out grin.

“Especially the Doctor.”

><><><

“She’s here.” Osgood’s voice came through the communicator and the room tensed, “Downstairs, we’re holding her back, but you might want to get down here to do whatever you need to do.”

“I’ll finish this.” River said, her attention to her work doubling down, “Just take as much time as you think you can keep her for, I’ll do my best on my end.” The Master made a face but took in a deep breath and pushed himself to his feet, reaching for his coat which he’d taken off part way through his work. He looked to the other three.

“Ready? Just try and hide around the room, they’re programmed to ignore me and you all. Osgood knows to clear out once we’re there.” The humans all nodded their heads, steeling themselves before they followed the Master out of the room and through the hallways. It was when they were nearly there, though, that Ryan glanced around and realised that they were missing a member of their party.

“Yaz?” He called out, stopping on the spot to look around. When the other two men stopped, he looked to them and motioned with a hand, “Where’s Yaz?” Graham’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as well and he too turned trying to search for her. When neither could catch a sight of her the older man called out.

“Yaz? Where are you? Yaz!” The two looked to each other, visibly worried and concerned over what could have happened to her. If the Valeyard had showed up already then god only knows what she might have done. But she’d been with them just moments before.

“What do we do?” Ryan asked, looking to his grandfather for guidance and Graham turned a few times, still visibly worried, and then looked back to the device in his hand.

“If she’s dead, we carry on. If she’s ran off, we carry on. What a time to take a wander though. Didn’t peg her as the coward of the group. We don’t have time to wait around.” The Master cut in, only allowing a touch of sympathy to reach his voice. The other two looked like they wanted to argue, taking a moment more to look behind them, hoping that she’d just been stopped or had slowed down and would come around the corner at any moment. Eventually their sense of duty won out and they followed along after the Master, still hopeful that she’d be fine and would catch up. The sound of shouting and gunfire eventually brought them out of their worried thoughts about Yaz and gave them entirely new ones about Osgood and the UNIT soldiers who were meant to be holding the Valeyard back from just storming to find them immediately. The Master lifted the communicator to his mouth, “We’re here.”

Almost immediately there was the sound of Osgood shouting out, “Pull back! Now!” The gunfire continued even as soldiers began to hurry out of the room. The Master motioned for Ryan to go around and head towards another entrance to the room and then stepped in passed the mass of men and woman leaving the room. There was piles of dust lying across the floor of the room and when the bullets stopped the Valeyard finally turned her head around the corner she’d been ducked behind to avoid the bullets. She locked eyes with the Master and stepped out fully.

Ryan and Graham stood, hidden off in separate entrances of the room, just the devices held out and pointed towards the Valeyard who either didn’t know they were there or wasn’t paying them any attention. Her focus was fixed fully on the Master, even as what was left of the UNIT security force left the room.

“You’re coming to me this time?” She asked, her head tilting, “I assume you’ve got something planned but I don’t know how you think this is going to go in your favour. I could just shoot you now?”

“You could, but aren’t you just a little bit interested?” She thought for a moment before shrugging.

“I mean I could live with not knowing, but, alright. How long did you have to keep me here for? Since, I assume, you’re the distraction?”

“Well-” The sudden feeling of something piercing his neck had him whirling around in shock and his hand shooting up to his neck. The knock-out dart was still lodged in his skin and he whirled around and caught sight of Yaz standing there, with the UNIT created dart gun, made specially for Time Lords, still held in her hands, before his vision starting to go fuzzy. He tried to fight it, panic washing over him as he pulled the dart from his neck with a wince. A shaky “why?” was all he managed to choke out before he tipped over as darkness overtook him and he hit the ground with a thump.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, had to repost this, it wasn't showing up for some reason. Only just had a chance to notice, sorry if you already read this chapter earlier today if it showed up for you!

A shocked silence fell over the room once the Master’s body hit the floor. Graham and Ryan both peered around the corners from where they were both hiding and their eyes widened, shock spreading across their faces. The Valeyard spoke up before either of them could make any kind of noise, looking between Yaz and the Master’s unconscious figure on the ground a few times.

“I-” She cut herself off, clearly beyond words at this moment and took another second to think before she continued, “Okay, no idea. Why?” She tilted her head with a raised eyebrow towards Yaz who stood across the room from her, the dart gun still in her hand but lowered now to her side.

“I never trusted him from the start. Like he’d ever actually try and save the Doctor.

“Right… well… So, you’d rather get him killed?” The Valeyard stepped closer to Yaz, her head still tilted, and her mouth pursed in light-hearted question. God it was strange, seeing the Doctor’s expressions being used by someone else. “I thought you wanted the Doctor back?” The Valeyard asked slowly and Yaz just shook her head, a scowl on her face.

“I’m tired of being lied to. Of not being taken seriously. Of being treated like I’m some sort of pet, just there to keep some ancient being company. By both the Doctor and the Master. I get it, they’re old, they’re tired. I don’t deserve that.”

“No. No you don’t.” The Valeyard nodded in agreement with her, taking a step towards her.

“I’m tired of people thinking that I’m some kind of idiot just because I don’t have 3000 years of running around the universe under my belt. I understand right from wrong.”

“Yeah, you do. You’re no idiot.” The Valeyard stepped closer still, reaching out a hesitant hand to rest it on Yaz’s shoulder, “Humans, I always knew you lot were a resourceful lot. You always saw what was right, deep down.”

“You get it. I mean you pretty much trusted Lee with your life, to keep you safe.” The Valeyard seemingly froze at the mention of the man’s name and she whirled around, her eyes wide in something akin to panic. Something rabid and filled with pain but Yaz tried to continue on, showing that she meant no harm in bringing the man up. “I remember meeting him, back when you turned yourself human. We ran into each other; I don’t know if you remember.”

“I remember.” The Valeyard responded quickly, her voice tight.

“Yeah, well. I just, I could never imagine the Doctor that I know putting that kind of trust in any of us. I don’t know how many of her former companions she would, but not us.”

“He wasn’t a companion. He was-” The Valeyard cut herself off, those words sounding so heavy and history filled as she swallowed hard that Yaz couldn’t help but draw her eyebrows in in question. “He was more than that. Don’t lump him in with all of the Doctor’s-” She cut herself off, but it was clear that was going to be something derogatory from her tone. She seemed to shake herself into focusing and continued, “Either way, it’s nice to have someone getting where I’m coming from.”

“I- I didn’t do this for you, I just…” Yaz sighed heavily and the Valeyard waved her off, motioning quickly towards the doorways where Ryan and Graham were both stood, both watching in horrified shock.

“I understand. You might want to explain yourself for them, though.” Yaz glanced around to both men, her expression hardening before she looked back to the Valeyard.

“Later.” The Valeyard just shrugged, beginning to pace back and forth casually.

“So, what was the plan? Exactly?”

“You really think they actually said?” Yaz scoffed, ignoring the looks sent by Ryan and Graham, their confusion as she stepped past the Valeyard towards the other side of the room, the other woman turning with her before she shrugged.

“Yeah, fair enough.” The Valeyard relented, then took in a heavy breath and turned back around to face the Master’s prone body. “Suppose I should deal with this then, shouldn’t I?” She reached into her pocket, reaching for her blaster once more to finish this off quickly. Yaz used her moment, her grip on the dart gun tightening as she raised it once again and darted forward, firing the next bolt into the back of the Valeyard’s neck. The woman gasped, the blaster dropping from her hand and clattering across the floor as her hand reached up to the back of her neck, grasping awkwardly at the dart with eyes wide as she looked up to Yaz and began dropping to one knee.

“When I said I was sick of everyone not taking me seriously,” Yaz stared down at her, unflinching as the woman dropped finally to the floor, “I suppose I don’t mind this one time.”

><><><

The Master could hear voices talking as he came too, his brows furrowed while his eyes were still closed and he reached up a hand to try and rub at his eyes, only to realise that one of his arms were restricted somehow. He finally opened his eyes, looking down towards his right arm and raised a confused eyebrow at the pair of handcuffs around his wrist that kept him shackled to a radiator. His confusion only deepened as he turned his head to figure out where he was, and he found himself inside the Black Archive room. Ahead of him he spotted River Song and Yasmin Khan stood next to one another, both looking over something in River’s hands. Graham and Ryan were both spread throughout the room, Graham sat down in an old looking armchair in one of the corners, and Ryan was sat on some boxes at the other side of the room. One quick glance further showed him the Valeyard, slumped over inside one of the Vinvocci glass cases, unconscious somehow.

“There better be a _very_ good reason for you shooting me.” He growled out, allowing the warning threat into his voice, but when both women turned around, neither looked all that threatened and it simply ruffled his feathers all the more for it. This was rather embarrassing. Because whether or not she’d turned on him for real, a human had just gotten the better of him, and not even one of the respectable ones. He’d take River Song, even Clara Oswald. By the time he’d had Martha Jones in his grasp, all those years ago, even he’d had to have a begrudging respect for her. These ones weren’t even anything impressive. It was almost humiliating.

“I’ve said it from the start,” Yaz told him, slowly taking a few steps towards him, her voice level and sounding just as annoyed, “The Doctor’s a Time Lord. I don’t know how evolution works for Time Lords, but if you spent millions of years on one planet with one species, then eventually your body alters to fit that. Also, reloomed. I assume, whatever that is really, would probably have corrected any defaults that were found. Two hearts.” The Master stared at her for a moment, resenting the fact that she had a point, and one that he’d continuously brushed off no matter how many times Yaz had brought it up.

“But how… you took a risk. What would you have done if it hadn’t worked?” He narrowed his eyes, not yet willing to let it be known that he thought she was right.

“I knew it would,” She growled out her words, “because she kept saying ‘heart’. As in one heart. She didn’t realise how much that body has changed. Safe bet. Plus, Kate said it had worked on the Doctor before. A previous incarnation, yeah, but still the Doctor.”

“Then why did you knock me out?” The Master asked, outraged. He pulled at the metal around his wrist, “Why am I handcuffed to a radiator?”

“Because 1.” Yaz threw up a finger, “I had to give her some kind of reason to trust me to get close enough, because if I took that first shot and missed that would’ve been game over. 2.” Another finger went up, “You wouldn’t have even let me try if I’d asked you. So, I stopped you from getting in the way. And 3.” Another finger. “I just wanted to knock you out at least once. I don’t like you, so if I could have done it with my own fists, I definitely would have. But you know, you take what you can get. And 4.” She crouched in front of him this time, her eyes narrowing into a glare, “I never trusted you not to try and kill both of them from the start.” He scoffed for a moment, trying to work up the outrage despite knowing that she was right.

“I’m offended you didn’t trust me enough to-” At her continued deadpan expression the Master let out a heavy sigh and shrugged up a shoulder, “I mean, I was never going to actively try, but if things didn’t work out then maybe I wouldn’t have tried very hard to stop it, let’s say that.” He went silent for a moment and looked her up and down, begrudgingly feeling respect blossom in his gut towards her. “You’re one of the smart ones.” He watched the smirk begin to appear on her face and couldn’t help himself as he leaned towards her, his voice lowering to a near whisper, “They’re usually the kind of ones that die. There’s a reason the Doctor’s always the smartest person in the room, she likes to surround herself with idiots.” The smirk left her face, but she said nothing more to him, just got to her feet and walked back over to River. He pulled at the handcuff around his wrist and called over to her, “You aren’t going to let me out?”

“Let yourself out.” She called back just as snarky, and the Master scowled at her openly and used his free hand to reach into his pocket for a lockpick or something else he could use to open the lock in mere seconds. Once free he gave his wrist a few customary rubs, as though his double bypass system would really allow the lack of blood flow from something so feeble, and then made his way over to Yaz and River, peering down at what they were looking at.

“I take it you’ve already started?”

“Of course. Just finishing up initial scans, we’ll need her awake for the next part.” River spoke up, barely glancing up from the pad in her hands, and that just made him scowl more.

“Why didn’t you tie her down?”

“It can’t be opened anyway. She’ll be waking up in a minute or two, you timed yourself quite well.”

“That’s a big risk and I’m the one that will be in trouble if she escapes.” He countered angrily and River fixed him with an annoyed expression.

“I think at this point, it will be all of us. So the sooner we get this done, the better.”

“Could’ve gone a lot quicker if you hadn’t knocked me out.” He’d just got his complaint out when the Valeyard had begun to stir, her head lifting from its place pressed against the glass case, her eyebrows drawing together in confusion as she looked about at her impromptu prison cell. Then she let out a heavy huff of breath, rolling her eyes as her head tilted backwards behind her. Only once she was looking up did she freeze, recognition sparking in her eyes and she pushed herself to her feet.

“No! Let me out, now.” Her voice let out her words in a low growl, her hands reaching into her pockets only for her to frown, confusion replacing her anger for a moment before it returned twicefold as River simply reached onto a nearby table and picked up the Valeyard’s blaster, showing it – and the other array of weapons she’d had on her person.

“Yeah,” Yaz said, stepping forward as she crossed her arms, “we already went through your pockets.”

“You’re gonna regret this,” The Valeyard hissed at her, pressing herself against the wall closest to them, “I swear, as soon as I am free, I’m gonna-”

“Is it done?” Yaz just turned, not listening as the woman finished her threat, peering over the pad in River’s other hand.

“Almost, 93%. We’ll be able to activate the sequence in a minute or two.” River paused and looked over to the Master, “Make yourself useful then,” She motioned over to the panels near the wall that the cells were essentially plugged into, that could monitor and alter the power feed, “I’ll be keeping a close eye.”

“I’m not a child.” He snapped, bristling as she treated him as less than the moronic humans surrounding them.

“Then act like it.” She replied sugary sweet and he simply snapped his teeth at her then stomped his way towards the panel anyway to look over the levels that were all holding steady as they were simply needed for running a scan right now. The real test would be when the power would be needed to create a perfect replica of the Doctor. This wouldn’t be a metacrisis situation, this was going to be pure makeshift science at its finest.

“Let me out, now! If you let me go now, I might not even kill you.” The Valeyard snapped again and the Master sighed and turned away from the control panel to look at her again, addressing her and capturing her attention as he spoke.

“You brought this on yourself. You could just give the Doctor back control and none of this would need to-”

“Why should I?” She all but screamed out the words cutting him off, hands tearing at her hair as an angry sob tore its way from her throat, “Why should I? They were the ones who ruined everything! I tried! I tried to be good! I tried to just leave! A whole childhood used as a science experiment. Experimented on, tortured. Ripped open again and _again_ and _again_. And I finally escaped because _they_ turned on _me_! They’d _never_ seen me as one of them. They just wanted to _use_ me. And then I finally met someone who actually seemed like they cared, someone who loved me and did everything in his power to keep me safe, and they ripped him from me as well.” She slammed her fists against glass one last time before the rage seemed to disappear and she slumped forward, her forehead pressing up against the glass as her shoulders began to shake from the silent tears. “I just wanted to escape. I just wanted to get away from them. They hunted me down, killed Lee, and expected me to just come back and be compliant again. They couldn’t let me be happy for _once_ in my miserably long life.” She shook her head slightly against the glass, “I wanted to wipe them out. Make them burn, suffer like he suffered. Like _I_ had suffered. Instead, they tried to get rid of me. I ripped immortality from their hands before stuffing myself away into the dark depths of my mind and throwing myself into the prime distributer of the looms. And then _the Doctor_ takes over, runs around in _my_ body. Using _my_ regenerations. Using _my_ name. And none of it happens to her. She gets to run away; she gets to stay away. She’s the one you’re all trying to save. This is _my body_! Not hers!”

“Not anymore.” The Master spoke back after a moment of silence, surprised that he found it in himself at this point to feel pity for her.

“I’m sorry, but the universe needs the Doctor. You’ve been gone too long.” River said next.

“You wouldn’t exist without me.” She hissed out her words to the Master, the anger forming again in an instant, “The Time Lords would have never existed without me. Regeneration came from me. You owe me for just existing.”

“If you wanted the Time Lords wiped out,” the Master stepped in closer to the glass in front of her, eyes narrowing and voice lowering into something with a hint more taunting in it, “then you shouldn’t have played around for so long.” The screech of rage at his words had her slamming her fists against the glass again.

“Damn you! This is my body! _Mine_! I didn’t get trapped away for so long for someone like _you_ to force me back in again. I won’t let them win! Your kind don’t get to win!”

“It’s your kind too.” Yaz snapped, speaking up for the first time a few minutes and the Valeyard’s eyes snapped to her, enraged at the suggestion.

“I am no Time Lord! I’d rather die!”

“Well those knock out darts are specifically designed for Time Lords. That body has had millions and millions of years to evolve without you in it. It changed. It has two hearts, and all the DNA structure of a Time Lord that any medical scanner in the world registers it as Time Lord.” She motioned a hand to Ryan, gesturing to the scanner still held in his hand and he hesitantly placed it in her palm. Immediately Yaz moved forward towards the Vinvocci glass case and held the scanner’s display screen against the glass so the Valeyard could read. “This is your results. This is that body’s results. It’s not yours anymore.” As she spoke the Valeyard’s eyes raced across the small screen, taking in the results and what they meant with increasing amounts of horror and disgust.

“No. You’re lying. It’s a _lie_! I’m not one of _them_. I will never be one of them!” The Valeyard was snarling and all but throwing herself against the glass walls of her cell as the Master and River began racing from panel to panel trying to start the sequence before the worst could happen. The noise of the machine above her, and the one across the room, powering on became rather loud, almost drowning out the Valeyard’s enraged screams.

“The power levels are growing unsteady.” River said, tone worried as she began flicking switches, the Master doing what he could to help, both of them trying to divert as much power away from anything else they could to keep this going. The lights in the room began to flicker on and off, a low humming noise could be heard over the noise of the cases. The Fam all let out noises of surprise when a few of the bulbs in the hanging lights above them exploded.

“At this rate we’re going to cut out the power in the whole of London.” The Master spoke up loudly and River just nodded, speaking quickly.

“I know. We keep going!” The power levels continued trying to rise and the noises got even louder. Through the now near darkness of the room they could just about make out as a shape began to take form in the previously empty case, before the remaining few bulbs shorted out and they were cast into darkness.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh... hey. I just... I don't really know what's been up with me the last couple months. I have had to force this out of myself and I don't really know why. I hope you guys enjoy it cause I lowkey hate it but I just needed to finish it. It was weighing on me cause I knew I only really had this chapter to go. At some point I may continue this but I don't know right now. Regardless, I hope you enjoy <3

The power didn’t come back on and all of the machinery was still and black. The room was near black and it was Yaz who reached for the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver to turn on the torch function first, holding it up as she looked between the cases before looking to River in question as to who she should go up to. River pointed towards the one that the Valeyard had been placed into first and Yaz approached slowly.

“Doctor?” Yaz asked quietly to the figure still inside the glass case in front of her.

“Careful,” River spoke up, reaching out a hand to Yaz’s shoulder, “We still don’t know.” Yaz nodded, taking in a deep breath and squaring her shoulders before she approached the glass once more, crouching in front of the figure who was still sprawled out on the floor of the small glass case.

“Doctor?” Yaz’s voice dropped to a quiet whisper, “Please be you.” She spotted The Master approaching the other figure in the second glass case across the room, but she didn’t pay him much mind as she kept her focus on the one in front of her. The figure stirred. Brown eyes flickering open and darting around the room in a dazed confusion before they landed on Yaz’s face.

“Yaz?” The human felt her heart jump a beat out of a momentary joy as it jumped ahead to the conclusion that this was definitely the Doctor. She had to quickly remind herself that this could just be the Valeyard’s trick.

“Doctor?” She asked, sitting a hesitant hand against the glass, still tentative despite all the Valeyard’s weapons lain out on a table on the other side of the room, well out of her reach. Mostly she was just scared that this hadn’t worked. That the figure over there would not be the Doctor. Whether that mean it was just an empty husk or even, a worse thought, an exact copy of the Valeyard and they’d have two of them to deal with. “Prove you’re you. Cause I can’t let you out until you do.” The woman’s face scrunched up in a deep confusion.

“Why do I have to prove it?” Her words were mumbled, and Yaz couldn’t help her scoff of amusement.

“Cause you’ve been trapped inside your own head by the Valeyard for the last long while. And she knows all your memories, so you have to prove to me that you’re you.”

“How am I meant to do that when she has all my memories and the last thing I remember is being strapped to a chair on Gallifrey?”

“How indeed?” The Master had moved back to the control panel with a sigh, a hand reaching into his pocket, “I suppose there’s only one course of action.” Yaz’s gut told her what was about to happen before he’ even got his TCE out his pocket, him having managed to pick it up off of the table while they were all distracted. She chose to listen to her gut and pulled open the door to the case in front of her before he pressed the button.

She just barely yanked the Doctor out of the glass case, both women tumbling to the floor in a sprawled out pile, as the cases both lit up red and the figure in the one still closed let out a shriek of pain and everyone turned to the Master with wide eyes.

“What have you done?!” Ryan yelled out, and the Master merely shrugged.

“Back up plan.” He grimaced down at the very much still alive and fine Doctor on the floor and huffed slightly, “Never seems to work out in my favour, does it.”

“I inspected both of those cases and all the tech inside of it. How in the hell did you do that?” River snapped at him and the Master shrugged.

“Back up plan I implemented millennia ago when I first was in contact with them. Seemed prudent at the time but now I have to thank my past self. Could’ve got the Doctor twice with it.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Yaz yelled, furious, as she got to her feet, trying to help the Doctor up with her as she did. Graham hurried in to the Time Lord’s other side, pulling one of her arms around his shoulders so he could help prop her up.

“Some people would say a lot of things.” The Master sighed then stared at her, unimpressed, “I don’t see why you’re upset. You already expected this. You chained me to a radiator and knocked me out. Problem is, you’re just human. And I’m brilliant and have the added benefit of having known the Doctor for almost my entire life. I have hundreds of plans all concurrently running all at once. Sometimes _I_ even forget about them, truthfully.”

“You’re a prat.” The Doctor’s shaky voice spoke up in the quiet that followed and they all turned to look at her. Watching as she took a moment to stand herself upright, clearly not wanting to have to have support to stand upright. 

The hug that came next came out of nowhere, to the Doctor anyway. One second she’d been waveringly swaying on the spot, greeting her wife in confusion, the next her small figure had been pulled into the hold of the man who’d been one of her sworn enemies for millennia now. Who was, as far as she could recall, the reason for whatever had happened to her.

He pulled away just as quickly, practically shoving her away like she was something that burned, as though he was just as surprised that he’d just done that, but the fear was still cloudy in his eye and the Doctor’s anger softened just slightly in her gut. Something she immediately cursed herself for.

“What was that for?” She asked and the Master stared down at her, and for a moment they were caught in an awkward silence. Eventually the Master let out a frustrated growl and pointed at her angrily before he began to pace.

“You can’t just ever make it simple for me to kill you. You have to always do this. Have some ancient entity in your head that wants me dead. Just die, for once.” This time it was Yaz who laid out a square punch to the man’s upper arm, which he immediately grabbed at with a snarl aimed towards her, “Do that again. You’re still in danger from that knock out dart earlier.”

“Enough!” The snarled yell hadn’t come from the Doctor. But it was definitely the Doctor’s voice that had called out, along with the sound of the loud thump of fists hitting against glass. They all turned. The Doctor saw herself standing, still trapped in the other Vinvocci glass pod. Her eyes widened, her figure trying to straighten up again only to stumble and have River catch her, sliding an arm around her shoulders to pull her in. And wasn’t that weird. She was more than used to towering over her wife, height wise. The other Doctor in the glass case was half slumped over as well, her hair over her face and her expression dazed, “What… what have you done to me? I feel weird.”

“Well,” the Master shrugged casually as he made his way over to the glass case, “you know the thing with clones, there’s never a perfect remake.” Her eyes moved up to connect with his, narrowing in suspicion and anger.

“What have you done?”

“Well, depending on how much genetic coding was finished before the power went out? You’ll either have unlimited regeneration or not even one. Maybe somewhere in between. You’re not guaranteed anything. Just a little something I cooked up.” Her eyes widened at his words and she struggled to her feet, using the edge of the case to hoist herself up, making pained grunts as she got further up.

“Why….” She trailed off and let out an angry yell, her eyes, wide and panicked, then addressed the Doctor, “You saw in my head. Everything they did to me. You can’t tell you think that I deserve this. You can’t tell me you don’t agree with my actions.”

“Of course I can’t. I don’t really remember much but… I know that I can’t.”

“What do you even mean?” The Valeyard snarled, enraged. “He did the same thing.” She jabbed a finger towards the Master, “And you’ll forgive him, because you always do. Everything he did, all the betrayals, even the ones still to come. And yet you’ll let go of your judgement of him even after what he did was worse.”

“You don’t want my forgiveness.”

“No. Neither does he. I want my body back. I want you wiped from existence. I want my life back.”

“I’m sorry.” The Doctor’s voice was quiet, withdrawn in a way that the Fam had never heard from her before. “I’m so sorry all this happened to you. You didn’t deserve it.”

“Of course I didn’t! You shouldn’t even exist! I don’t know why you exist, packing me away inside my own brain. I’m not in the wrong.”

“You killed people.” Ryan snapped up and the Valeyard looked to him with a mad glint in her eye, jabbing a finger in the Doctor’s direction.

“So has she! She’s killed more people than anyone else standing here and that counts him,” The finger pointed towards the Master next, “Just because she doesn’t parade that fact in front of you all, doesn’t mean she’s not one of the most feared creatures in the universe. All I’ve done is defend myself, avenge myself.”

“And what about Kate? You murdered her for no reason.” Yaz snapped.

“She got in my way.” The Valeyard snapped back and the Doctor went suddenly pale, leaning into River’s side as the shaky image of what indeed happened to Kate came to her.

“Oh god…” She murmured quietly. River’s attention turned to her in response and there was a split second before the Valeyard pushed open the door to the glass case, managing to shove the Doctor backwards into River, knocking both of them off of their feet, and all but dived on shaky legs towards the table holding all of her equipment and slammed her fingers down on the take-off button of the vortex manipulator before any of them to even think to do anything to stop her.

“No!” the Yaz called out, trying to throw herself forward towards her, the rest of them doing the same but the Valeyard disappeared in a bright blast of vortex energy. There was a moment of tense silence afterwards.

“How did she even get the door open?” Graham cried out.

“The power’s out! Nothing keeping it shut. She was only in there because she was hurt and we were surrounding her.” The Master snapped angrily.

“She saw her chance and she took it.” River continued huffily, managing to get herself to her feet before helping the Doctor up who was still a little woozy.

“River, do I need to drop you off anywhere?” The Doctor asked, turning suddenly once she was on her feet to her wife who looked down at her in surprise for a moment before shaking her head with a frown.

“I’m expected back in my cell, I’ve been away for a bit too long, and if I come with you there’s every chance I could end up on some other moon. Are you sure? I can help.”

“I think we’ll have a while till she’s back. Trust me.” There was a moment before River nodded, leaning in for a moment to press her forehead against the Doctor’s, a sweet moment that the human’s in the room looked away from to give them some privacy. It was the Master who watched with an annoyed gaze.

“Goodbye love.” River pressed the transport button on her own vortex manipulator and the Doctor let out a heavy tired sigh before turning to the rest of the and then heading over to the TARDIS which was still parked in the corner.

“Any chance of a lift? My TARDIS is somewhere in Blackpool, apparently.” The Master asked finally.

“You have some cheek. Try and kill the Doctor, _twice_ , and now you’re asking for a lift.” Graham scoffed, outrage obvious in his voice. The Doctor merely raised her eyebrow in question at the other Time Lord, staring him down for a few seconds before she heaved out a sigh and nodded, pushing open the TARDIS door and waving a hand inside dismissively.

“Fine. But I’m deliberately dropping you off on the other side of Blackpool.”

“We’ll see, your driving’s never been spot on enough for that.”

“Well then, if I end up leaving you in South Wales, I can’t be blamed.” The Fam watched, all with looks of incredulous shock at how the Doctor could simply invite the man that had almost killed her inside the TARDIS like he was nothing but an old annoyance.

><><><><><><><

Once the Master was dropped off at some unspecified location within Blackpool, the Doctor brought the TARDIS into the vortex and dropped to sit against the console, basically wilting in exhaustion as the last few days caught up to her body and mind.

“You alright?” Yaz asked, stepping in close first and the Doctor had to take a moment, sucking in a deep breath before she could answer.

“It…” She fell silent again, clearly trying to think out her words and the Fam all fell silent, allowing her the time. “It’s strange. I went for so long there, thinking I wasn’t who I thought I was. And…. I mean I’m not, not technically. This isn’t even my body, or it wasn’t mine first. But _I’m_ not as old as I was worried I was. All those years terrified of the truth. I’m still not thrilled by it, mind you. But it does make me feel better, somehow, to have it be someone else’s story. Still though, everything’s that happened. Kate, all those people… It’s starting to come back to me, like I was watching through a key hole out my own eyes and I couldn’t unlock the box to do anything.”

“That was the Valeyard. It might have been this hand but it wasn’t you who did any of that. Don’t do that to yourself.” Yaz was quick to grip the Doctor’s wrist, lifting up her hand with a strict expression on her face. The Doctor gave a small grateful smile and moved her hand so she could give Yaz’s a squeeze before dropping it and turning as Ryan spoke.

“Are we gonna try and find her?” He asked, “How would we even know where she went?”

“It probably would’ve done a return trip first. Simplest action, just a press of a button. As for finding her? We could try, but if she does have any regenerations then she’s going to have to use one. So we’re not gonna know what she looks like.”

“Isn’t there some way to tell?”

“Maybe once we were right in front of one another, but I saw her mind, it’s not as simple as it would be with the Master. Her mind is more ancient than anything I’ve ever seen before. She was awake throughout my entire life and I never even knew she was there. Watching, waiting. Stuck there until the Master let her out by accident.”

“Were you right to let him go?” Yaz asked, crossing her arms across her chest, “He almost succeeded in killing you. Twice.”

“Probably not.” The Doctor breathed out the words heavily before shrugging, “What am I really gonna do though? I won’t kill him. I can’t kill him. I know that. He knows that. It’s an endless cycle.”

“He hugged you though, maybe he does care.” Graham suggested and the Doctor smiled, clearly somewhat amused by that fact.

“That he did. Strange that. Maybe he was just overcome with the emotion of no longer having to deal with the Valeyard himself.”

“What if she goes after him first? He’s just left himself open to that.” Yaz asked.

“We both know the Valeyard. I met the Valeyard before, a long time ago. I only knew her as a future version of myself. Or, that she would appear after my thirteenth regeneration.”

“I thought you said you’ve had more than 13 regenerations though?” Graham asked, eyebrows furrowing.

“This is the thirteenth that I count. Besides, when I met her back then, she was trying to steal my remaining regenerations. I hadn’t realised back then what she meant.” She scoffed slightly in amusement, “Strange how much of it makes sense now, looking back.”

“So, you in the past defeated her?”

“Well, I stopped her from taking over me. We got separated in the Matrix, I don’t know what happened next.”

“So, she’s still out there.”

“Somewhere, yeah.” The Doctor pushed herself up from the TARDIS console, shaking herself to get herself out of the funk that had overcome the group and smiled at her Fam, “Ah, well. When she shows up, I’ll deal with it.”

“ _We’ll_ deal with it.” Ryan cut in and the Doctor nodded to him, pausing for a moment as a softer, more genuine, smile spread across her face as she looked between them all.

“Yeah. We.”


End file.
